I opened the catalogue that is posted to me every few weeks and was mesmerized by the array of different Bibles.
There were Bibles for men so I could not read them because I’m not.
There were Bibles for surfers but I am a strictly land-dwelling species to I could not read those.
There were Bibles for teen-agers but they’d gaol me for fraud if they caught me reading them.
There were Bibles for explorers but I am already way over the hill so I could not read them because of the mountain separating us.
There were Bibles for every group you could think of and every one of them ostracized me because I didn’t fit into that group. I was totally excluded.
Worst of all, my Bible was missing and it was not even listed as a collector’s item. My Bible speaks to everybody and nobody feels left out. Perhaps it is missing because it is too good to be true.
Could I make a suggestion, please? Could we have a sinner’s Bible? Nobody gets left out of it because “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). I am in it, you are in it, men are in it, teen-agers are in it; surfers, theologians, students, explorers – everybody is in it, nobody is excluded because sinners are the only ones Christ died for: “God states his love for us in this: While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:8). He didn’t die for anybody else. “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:17).
I think it is the best Bible of all, don’t you?
Elizabeth Price