Those of us who call ourselves writers, cannot compete with the oldest book in time. There is nothing like it. It’s the inspired Word of the One who created time and eternity. It’s His Spirit being penned by human hands. Through it, we have a description of how our world was made. We have a perfect recorded history of mankind, his mistakes, his foolishness, his self-reliance and his disobedience. We see the war between good and evil. We learn how to live within God’s perfect plan for our lives. We also learn that God loves us. He’s shown that through the final sacrifice of His only begotten Son, who suffered and died for us. We are guaranteed eternal life when we believe in our triune God. Because of that, we will never die. God reveals His trued nature to us through it. We know that we’re loved and will never be alone.

The words within this amazing book have survived centuries. They’ve been revised, reprinted, restored to their original form through their original languages. The Bible will remain until the end of time. It is the truth. So, why have we neglected it in the past century? We look at these ancient manuscripts and wonder how they apply to us today. We let them sit on a coffee table to gather dust. We may open the pages when we’re feeling disappointed, sad or fearful. We read it when we’re looking for answers. We thumb through the pages or search the Internet for passages that will comfort us. Most of the time we go to it as a last resort.

The answers we seek about our current problems are in this book. The strength and fortitude we need to push through the ugliness of our world, are printed on its pages. Our faith, our trust, our interaction with others, our ability to work through things that cause us worry are all packed into the scriptures. God breathed the words.

When you feel you can’t go on living in a society filled with hate and anger, this is exactly where you should go for answers. When you feel the world has nothing to offer – when your money runs out before the end of the pay period – when relationships suffer – when addiction grabs hold of you – when disease invades your body – when families drift apart – when all the downers of life seem to rest on your shoulders – you can find words in the Bible to encourage, restore, renew, revive, comfort, inspire and keep you pressing on for the final prize.

We’ve all heard the phrase, “there’s an app for that.” The Bible is so much more. It’s a way of life.

POETRY BY KATHY BOECHER©

Your Word, Lord, is perfect, its teachings are true,

By faith we believe this, not by what we do,

The words can give strength to our weak minds each day,

Our path is made straight through the things that you say,

You reach out your hand and you touch me with love,

I long for the day you return from above.