I come from an era where homes often still displayed religious art. The Pilgrim’s Progress was one of these, and as a child I was so fascinated by the tiny illustrations of each step of his journey that I copied the style for a history project, much to the delight of my teacher. 😊 For some reason I found reducing a huge event – in this case, the battle of Trafalgar – to miniature art, deeply satisfying.

We certainly live in amazing times that are not easily reduced in this way. My life-long interest in reading history means I understand how it repeats itself, chiefly because it would seem that we humans seem to have difficulty learning from our mistakes and have a spectacularly short memory! And, these days, “byte-sized” reading has replaced “deep-reading” for many. In fact, according to many social commentators, if there is a video about a topic, little to no reading takes place at all!  And in this way, slowly but surely our world vision is narrowed by the transient but popular opinions of “influencers”, something I find deeply disturbing.

Then, above all the clamor and sensationalism of our everyday newscast, I hear another voice – it is a voice from about 4000 years ago, laden with the only truth that can save us from ourselves: “I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth More than my necessary food.” (Job 23:12)

I believe it is time for us – the disciples of our Lord Jesus – to fall in love with the actual printed words of the Bible once again and with all the passion of our first love. Don’t get me wrong. I am truly grateful for digital versions of the scriptures because of severe eye problems related to aging. But I have taken out my old Bible once again, the one with the underlinings and notes of years, and it sits next to me with a magnifying glass because those pages represent the investment of a lifetime of loving God. When I go home one day, someone will be able to pick it up and SEE the words were “more than my necessary food”.

In the early days of the Pentecostal outpouring in South Africa, many of our early pastors were so unschooled that they had to spell out the scriptures before they preached them. Is it any wonder then, that they committed so much of the Word to memory? Yet I am told that many Christians today can’t even recite the Lord’s Prayer, let alone the 23rd Psalm.  

Perhaps I am too easily moved by a sense of something lost for this generation, but in the culture of my Afrikaans ancestors, devotions at home were called “Boeke vat” (Taking books). So, I take up my old Book again and lovingly mark the Words of Life – with a magnifying glass, both physically and spiritually!

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