“If sales of the Bible were included in best-seller lists, it would be a rare week when anything else would achieve a look in. It is wonderful, weird … that in this godless age… this one book should go on selling, every month.” (British TIMES Newspaper, 1996)

As many know, the Holy Bible is the world’s best selling book and not by a short margin. As the Internet Public Library puts it: “No one really knows how many copies of the Bible have been printed, sold, or distributed. Whatever the precise figure, the Bible is by far the best selling book of all time.” In addition to this, The New Yorker points out, “The familiar observation that the Bible is the best-selling book of all time obscures a more startling fact: the Bible is the best-selling book of the year, every year.” (Daniel Radosh, December 2006)

When you consider the endurance and preservation of the Christian Bible, it is impossible to deny its place of importance and honor in the world of the written word. Arguably, it has influenced Western Civilization more greatly than any other work ever published and it continues to influence our society today. Average households in the United States are saturated with copies of this sacred text. Even homes with a limited library often contain one or more copies. But, its vast magnetism and reach is certainly not limited to our country. The Bible has been translated into so many languages that well over 90 percent of the world’s population has a readable translation. (United Bible Societies, Scripture Language Report 1998) That’s astounding! Demand, fervency and divine ordinance have sent the Scriptures across the globe with clarity and power to transform and stir the hearts of all people.

Time has not diminished our passion for its teachings, nor has time corrupted its integrity. It can be trusted. There is manuscript support and validation from secular sources as well as archaeology that provide confident assurance of its purity through centuries of transmission. God’s truth has been accurately preserved with all the power and intrigue of that very first copy. It has been guarded with divine fastidiousness.

In content, form, authorship and affect the Word of God stands distinctly through millennia of trial. There are other ancient manuscripts that rival the agedness of the Bible – they sit in museums as relics on display, antiquated, interesting but irrelevant. The Bible, the Word of God, lives and breathes today with contemporary meaning in our modern world. It continues to publish, continues to sell, continues to inspire and continues to stir. Why? Because the holy collection is Spirit-breathed and eternal. “The grass withers and the flower falls, but the word of our God stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:8, NIV)

God has made Himself known to us. He has demonstrated His glory in all of nature. He has set eternity and desire in our hearts. And in generous grace, He has given us the tangibility of a written word. We are invited to know the mind of Christ, to experience the heart of God, and to observe His relationship with man. We are invited to know our Creator.

His thoughts, His words are so near as the copy of our Bibles sitting tidily on its shelf. It is a terrible marvel that we tend to devalue this heavenly love-gift. We have access to the wonders of the Divine, but we haven’t time to read. We hungrily feed our addiction to certain television shows and pore through volumes of various literatures, but how many of us have read through the entirety of our Bibles? How often and with how much eagerness?

O’ God, place an urgency in our hearts for the knowledge of Your Word. Give us an undying affection for its wisdom and beauty. Let us love Scripture with dire passion. May we see You through the windows of it’s pages. May we pursue You with all our hearts in true, ardent discipleship. In Jesus Name, Amen.

“When I discovered your words, I devoured them. They are my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God of Heaven’s Armies.” (Jeremiah 15:16, NLT)

Liz Miller lives in Daphne with her husband Matt and son, Logan. She looks forward to responding to your thoughts, prayer requests and guest speaker invitations, please write to millerfam3@hotmail.com.