Sharper Than A Two-edged Sword

During a recent visit, my three year old granddaughter surprised and entertained me with her insightful questions. I was delighted by her quiet and demure approach to ask me specific questions. One question involved my choice of a particular style of clothing. She wanted to know why I always wear bibbed pants better known as coveralls. Without going into graphic medical detail, I explained to her that for me they are very comfortable and that I can’t wear a belt. Her look suggested to me that the explanation was in some way incomplete. In retrospect, as suggested later by my son, her father, I probably should have simply explained that I do a lot of work around the house and the working man’s clothes are my best choice.

Another inquiry really impressed me. Her eye for detail caused her to ask why “that book” is always on the coffee table. The book she was referring to was the Holy Bible sitting open on a special ornate wooden stand on the table. Indeed, unless it is being read, it is always there. At times there are three different translations of the word of God open on the stand. I answered that the book was our Bible and it is very important that it be available and open to us. The answer was acceptable to her and I could sense that she felt that I had answered her question with the detail required she sought given her age.

I have since thought about her question and I have asked myself why we have “that book” out on the table for all who enter our home to see? I have itemized my answers to my own question.

1. The Bible is always readily available.
2. We always know where our Bibles are.
3. The ornate stand is decorative, as are the Bibles.
4. Visitors to our home immediately know that we read the Bible and that we are most probably Christians. Some who don’t know us that well, I am well aware, could and do conclude that we are “Bible thumpers”. I have spoken with several individuals who consider it a personal slight if you keep a Bible in plain view…a philosophical stance that has always escaped me, I must admit.
5. The Bibles are a visible testimony to our faith and our stand.
6. They keep the Word of God constantly before us and remind us of our love and respect for the Lord as well as his timeless communication to us.
7. Hebrews 4:12

12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two–edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Indeed the Word of God is a dynamic living force. It is capable of great discernment. Through study we can become discerning and capable of much increased understanding of this world and our place in it…or indeed our lack of place in it. Despite the fact it was written over the span of fifteen hundred years almost two millennia ago, it is absolutely relevant to the issues we face each and every day. It cuts through all of the falsities and propaganda offered up by a so called modern world. Without the Bible, I never would have come to know the Lord. There was not one mortal man who could have convinced me that I must be born again. I spent more that three years reading and digesting the Bible. It was difficult at first. The more I read and looked for the contradictions that I was sure were there, the more I became convinced of the gospel story and its promises. I read to find the weaknesses and the contradictions in the Bible and instead I found Jesus. I highly recommend a Bible on your coffee table.

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