The Word of God is more desirable than gold and sweeter than honey. Psalm 19

“Wow,” I thought, as I traced with my finger the crack in the leather spine of my Bible. I’d finally managed to wear out my first Bible. Not my first Bible, in that it was the first Bible I had ever owned. I had owned several Bibles. They did a great job collecting dust on book shelves. But this was the first Bible I had ever read and studied enough to finally crease the spine to the cracking point.

This was a special Bible, given to me by my parents. It had my name embossed in gold on the cover. And, in my Mom’s neat handwriting, it has an inscription inside that simply says it is to me, from them, on the occasion of Christmas, 1998. To me, though, it says much more than that. It says that my parents loved me, despite everything.

You see, that Christmas of 1998 I was going through the latest in a series of self-inflicted low points. My parents had every reason to wash their hands of me. But God put it in their hearts that Christmas to give me a Bible, and they listened.

The Bible stayed in the box it came in for another couple of years, in the bottom of a drawer. Out of sight, out of mind. But on that day when I finally fell to my knees and begged God to help me, the Bible my parents gave me that Christmas called to me from the bottom of the drawer. I pulled it out, and began to read.

Now, a decade later, my old Bible is full of sticky notes, and highlighted passages. There are a dozen different bookmarks scattered throughout with index cards stuffed here and there, and notes jotted in the margins. I suppose I’ll have to start over with a new Bible, but then the “…Word of God is living and active, sharper than a two-edged sword.” So it will always be new and fresh and alive.

Thanks Mom and Dad, for loving me so much and for listening to the gentle nudge of God that Christmas many years ago. Read Kevin’s devotions