From the Home Place

October 28, 2025

“This I know, that God is for me. In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise.” Psalm 56:9b-10 God’s “word” consistently reminds us that when we walk with God, His “word” will remind us of His desire to walk with us.

I’m sorry to start our visit with a string of questions, but I must ask each of us, “What value do I really place on God’s word?” Do I “praise” His word? Do I really trust God’s word enough to allow it to change who I am and what I do? Or do I read His word, lay it aside and go on to live my life as if I had never read His “word?”

I know around our house, we have close to twenty Bibles, but does one of those Bibles have me? I recall reading the words of D.L. Moody, “We don’t need to get more people into the Bible, we need to get more of the Bible into people.” Perhaps if those of us who claim to love God’s “word” would live what we read, just perhaps, we would have an extremely positive impact upon the culture in which we live? What value do you and I really place upon God’s “word?” Have I stopped recently and praised God for giving me His love letter from Heaven, a Bible?

Over my years in the pastorate, I have used God’s “word” as a tool for counseling, for encouraging, for challenging, for a sermon text and for leading others to salvation in Christ Jesus, but have I used His “word” as He intended it to be used, as a means of transforming my life?

2 Timothy 3:16-17 informs us, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” After hours and hours in the Bible, am I trained in “righteousness?” Am I doing “good work?” Am I just in the Bible, or is the Bible in me?

O.K. enough questions. Allow me to share one of my hobbies with you – I enjoy collecting old Bibles. Bibles that reveal not only old age but also reveal that someone has used them. Dr. Derkson once told me, “A Bible that is falling apart usually belongs to a person who is not.”

You can tell a lot about a person by looking at their Bible. Is it falling apart, or are they? So, for today, I am going to assume that your Bible is falling apart from use, and that your life is not falling apart from proper application of God’s “word.” As such, your life and your Bible both give “praise” to God for his “word.”

Now, here’s one more question, “Who will read your Bible after you have passed on to eternity?” I have a box full of old Bibles that evidently have meant a lot to their previous owners, yet I found them at a yard sale or a thrift store. Tattered and torn, full of underlines, highlights, and personal notes. Each Bible appears to have done its job well, yet it ended up being discarded at the end of its owner’s life.

When your life comes to a close, who will inherit your prized possession, your Bible? May I suggest that you put a very visible note in each of your used Bibles to give its next owner instructions about the great value of God’s “word!” Tell them your favorite verse or passage. Tell them why you left that Bible to them. Tell them to use it for “training in righteousness.” Tell them that it has been a good friend to you, helping you to get to know its Author, whom you are now with in Heaven!

Praising God for His “word” with you, Neal