A small boy one day took the Bible from the table in his home and asked, "Is this God's Book, Mother?"
"Certainly it is," was her reply.
"Well," continued the boy, "don't you think we might as well send it back to God? We don't use it here, do we?"
We may smile at this, but it reveals a sad lack of reading the Bible. We need to read it because it is the "Book of Life".
"Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Matt. 4:44But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4). When we try to "live by bread alone," we feed the body but starve the soul.
A short time ago a man died of starvation, and after his death it was discovered that he had $838,000. on deposit in local banks. He never referred to his money, even when physicians were seeking to check the ravages of malnutrition. He let his body starve with plenty on hand to feed him. Maybe you, my reader, are letting your soul starve, although the Word of God is at hand to provide you with life-giving spiritual food.
John Quincy Adams, sixth president of the United States, said, "For years I have read my Bible through once a year. I read it every morning, as the very best way to begin the day."
Perhaps you think you haven't time to read the Bible every day. A man once made this excuse to D. L. Moody. He answered: "My friend, if you are too busy to read the Bible every day you are busier than Almighty God ever intended any human being should be, and you had better let some things go and take time to read the Bible."
"With almost every kind of machine goes a book of instructions. The Bible is the Book that goes with man. Think of it! Sixteen waking hours every day to travel the highway of life, and no time to read the Guide Book! No wonder so many go astray—no wonder so many "wrecks" are strewn along life's highway!
William Gladstone, England's great prime minister and statesman, often came home from Parliament very late at night. But no matter how late, he arose at 6:30 in the morning and gave the first hour of every day to reading the Word of God and to prayer. He said, "Talk about the questions of the time! There is but one question—how to bring the truths of God's Word...into vital contact with the minds and hearts of all classes of people."
If we neglect to read the Bible, we are missing the best things in life. The Bible is the Book of the heart. Satisfaction in life is found by reading and receiving the Word of Life into our hearts. "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." John 6:6363It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. (John 6:63).
Woodrow Wilson said, "I am sorry for the men who do not read the Bible every day. I wonder why they deprive themselves of the strength and the pleasure." On another occasion he wrote, "The Bible is the Word of Life. Read it, and find this out for yourself. Read—not only little snatches here and there, but long passages that will really be the road to the heart of it. When you have read the Bible you will have found it the key to your own heart and your own happiness."