Articles
More Than a Book
Some years ago I observed as a young woman entered the visitors’ area of the county jail and handed a blue hardback book through the opening in the wall to one of the jailers.
She told which prisoner it was for and explained, “It’s just a Bible.” Saying that, she left.
The jailer quickly looked through it—standard procedure to make sure it contained no drugs, weapons, etc. It passed inspection.
What, we might wonder, became of that Bible? If the inmate requested it, he probably read it. What then? Did it help him? Was his life changed by it? Once he got out, did it help him stay out?
Whether or not it helped him was up to him. That Bible contained no illegal drugs, but like a legitimate prescription it has the power to heal—if taken as directed. “. . . in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21 NASB).
And though that Bible contained no concealed weapon, the message inside its covers “is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).
The Bible has the power to convict not only the convict in his cell, but all the rest of us as well—if we let it.
Amazing things have happened whenever people were willing to read and heed the Scriptures. No other book has such power to transform lives from the inside out.
The Bible’s source explains its power. It is the Word of God.
