I love getting my new bible. I have tons of bibles in my home. They are not displayed in my home as "nick nacks" but they adorn the book shelves, night stands, end tables and even the bathroom. Some of my most treasured things I own include certain bibles that I have had for years or belong to members of my family.
Yet, you might ask why I love getting new bibles each year. It is because I re-read the bible every year. Sometimes I have done the 90 day challenge, other years I have just read nightly until I finsihed, or I have followed a strict reading plan in a devotional type one year bible.
I also mark all in my bibles. I highlight, I write thoughts, I input special dates or memories within the pages of my bibles. My journey through out the years is typically "highligted" within the pages of God's word. Obviously, there have been times the treasured verses or notes were inspired out of seeking God's answers for problems or prayer request. At other times, the marks within the pages simply indicate a new treasured verse that I can hold close to my heart.
I still refer back to my bible that I love the most frequently. This bible is the one that I have owned since 1990. So many lessons have been learned and so many verses have offered hope and granted a sense of peace over two decades.
Yet the reason for a new bible is that it allows me to rediscover new things and to allow myself to opprotunity to apply the knowledge I have learned before. In one year, a certain passage may have been key and I have learned from that passage or been comforted from that passage in the past. It is ever apparent how living God's word is when I go back a learn that each year a new verse within a parable, the Psalms or tucked in the Old Testament had new meaning. It is evidence of some growth within my walk.
Sometime the growth is very small in it's significance. In other times, I can see the overwhelming change that can only be attributed to God's grace and mercy for me. Sadly, there is also the same passages that I find God still convicting me of and patiently waiting for me to understand or apply to my life.
Simply, the new bible is a commitment to continue on a renewed journey to know the God that I so desperately want to seek. I want to allow the words to saturate my being and direct me in the paths I take.
