WHAT’S YOUR PRIZED POSSESSION?

Therefore I love Your commandments above gold, even above fine gold.  Psalm 119:127

What earthly possession of yours do you value above all others?  If your house was burning down, what is that one precious thing (other than your loved ones, of course!) that you would grab and escape the flames with?  I’ve already thought about this and if possible, I would seize my Bible - the one I study, teach and preach from.  What makes it priceless is all the quotes, notes and outlines I have scribbled all over its pages.  Sometimes I can’t read the text for the notes!  The cover is currently fortified with black duct tape to hold it together. 

The Bible is no ordinary book.  It’s God’s inerrant, infallible and eternal Word to man.  We are so blessed to have it in our own language.  Do you have a Bible?  Do you believe it, love it, read it, study it, seek to understand it, know it, memorize it, think on it, live it out and share it with others?  When you know the Author (our triune God) personally, you really want to know what He is saying to you!  When studying 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, I discovered a wonderful paraphrase of these verses in my files done by a group of high schoolers entitled A Paraphrase of Love (Fundamentalist Journal, February 1989).

Love isn’t proud.  It doesn’t try to push people into something; it doesn’t lose patience.

Love has good manners; it isn’t rude and it doesn’t think mean or dirty things.  It looks for things good about other people.  It doesn’t get offended easily by what others say.  It doesn’t remember what you did a long time ago.  Love does not delight in bad things but in good things.

Love does a whole bunch of things: it carries heavy burdens; it trusts in others; it waits patiently for God’s timing; it endures all hardships.  Love never quits.

Isn’t that good?  Is the Bible your most prized possession?  I hope so!

Bob Kulp