Rachel Whisman

My brother stood at the front of the stage looking onto his middle school students at youth group and said, “Turn in your Bible to….” If I am honest, I expected him to continue with the all too familiar way to finish this statement with, “or open your app to…,” but he didn’t. I was caught off guard when he continued with, “…John 11:25. If you don’t have a Bible we have some extras in the back of the room that you can borrow.” 

He did eventually say, “Or in your app” but that statement was quickly lost in the flood of students rushing to the back of the room towards a cart full of Bibles that were either lost or set there as extras. With eagerness, they grabbed a Bible and returned to their seat. Eventually, they ran out of extras, but a volunteer went and found some more to hand out to them. I thought once these kids saw there weren’t anymore availble they would retreat, but they did the exact opposite. They stayed and waited until they could take a Bible in hand and then go back to their seat. 

Twice I was wrong in a matter of seconds. Twice I had set my expectations too low on my brother and these kids, and something better prevailed. The heart of my brother to shepherd his middle school students in the value of holding the Word of God in their hand not through a screen, but through thumbing their way through sacred scriptures. Next, to the realization that there is a desire in today’s youth to hold and examine the scriptures through a real Bible in front of them. 

Seeing this hunger, from these students, to grab a Bible and read it was beautiful. It made me question myself in how little I know in how much desire there might actually be in people to read the Bible. I have grow accustomed to it, have you? At Church, has it become normal to leave behind your Bible and scroll through Scripture instead? When you are discipling someone, do you and your mentee have the habit of physically opening up the Bible to find, read out loud, and discuss what God has to say about his word? When in solitude at home, have you replaced scripture with a screen to stare at? 

Yes, God’s word is alive and active either thorugh a phone or a physical Bible (Hebrews 4:12). However, in our crazed and distracted age, focus is lacking. Removing a screen is worth the price of the invaluable treasure of thumbing your way through His eternal word. Holding a physical Bible is worth the clumsiness and slight awkwardness as you teach another person where a verse or book might be in the Bible. Holding a physical Bible shows its value and authority in your life beyond holding a phone. 

People do have a desire for the word and I was reminded of that this past Sunday morning in the eagerness of middle school kids. God can do far more abundantly than all we ask, think, or imagine, and He does it through His word. May we be faithful in opening the Word of God and may these words be just as familiar as we share the truth of scripture with others as we say, “Turn in your Bible to..”