Your Daily Devotional for November 24, 2006

 

November 24, 2006

 

 

Giving Thanks: For The Bible

by Dr. Paul Chappell

 

 

“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.”

 John 5:39

 

 

In the year A.D. 303, the Roman emperor Diocletian issued a decree which he hoped would extinguish the spreading flames of Christianity. One of his primary objectives was the seizure and destruction of the Scriptures. Later that year, officials enforced the decree in North Africa.

 

One of the targets was Felix, Bishop of Tibjuca, a village near Carthage. The mayor of the town ordered Felix to hand over his Scriptures. Though some judges were willing to accept scraps of parchment, Felix refused to surrender the Word of God at the insistence of mere men.

 

Resolutely, he resisted compromise. Roman authorities finally shipped Felix to Italy where he paid for his stubbornness with his life. On August 30, as the record puts it, "with pious obstinacy," he laid down his life rather than surrender his Scripture.  

 

This man was only one of many men and women who have helped to preserve the Bible throughout the years by standing up for their faith. Even though they knew they faced certain death, many stood up for Christ and would not recant or turn their backs on Him. Many secretly printed and distributed thousands of Bibles during this time in history.

 

Throughout history, people have tried many different ways to destroy God’s Word. By banning it, burning it, torturing those who owned it, some wanted to make sure that the Bible became obsolete. But God had a different plan.

 

Through people like Wycliffe, Gutenberg, and many others, God has made a way for His Word to be passed down from generation to generation. This is called preservation. God could have just given us His Word and then left it up to us to preserve it, but He provided a way for us in the twenty-first century to have it! We can read it and learn from it just as the Christians of the first century church did!

 

We can show a thankful spirit to God by reading His Word daily. Do you thank God regularly for His Word? I am glad that God provided us with His Holy Word. Thank Him for preserving it through the generations. Thank Him for the people who were willing to be used of God to help preserve His Word. Don’t take for granted the fact that we have the Scriptures today!

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