World Book Day
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
Last week it was ‘World Book Day’. Many primary schools encouraged children to come that day either dressed as their favourite literary character, or in their pyjamas with a book they love.
As my morning run coincided with school drop off, I saw ‘Harry Potter’, ‘Spiderman’ and lots of children ready for bed clutching their favourite book!
I think it’s a lovely fun way to promote reading for children, especially in our digital age where phones and tablets are very popular with the younger generation.
When they were young, our kids loved story time before bed. We read our way through many kid’s classics, including all of the ‘Mr Men’ and ‘Little Miss’ books.
I remember one occasion being so tired myself reading to them at bedtime, that I fell asleep. I was awoken by an angry child, saying, ‘Daddy, wake up!’
According to Guinness World Records the best-selling book of all time is the Bible. No one knows exactly how many copies have been printed since the first one over 1500 years ago.
Research conducted by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 2021 suggests that the total number probably lies between 5 and 7 billion copies.
These days there are Bible Apps too, with multiple translations and reading plans that make it easy to read and study the Bible.
In the New Testament, Paul wrote this…
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
Paul was referring to what we now call the Old Testament. However, it is generally accepted that the Bible text we have today was ‘canonized’ by around 200AD. In other words, the books in the Bible were accepted as being ‘inspired by God’.
For me, what is important is that the Bible, that library of 66 books, reveals the character and nature of God and how He relates to this world.
It is the ‘Big Story’ about God, that has a start, middle and end. It informs me about God and draws me into my relationship with Him.
Not only that, but I find that it ‘speaks’ today in all sorts of ways into my life, wherever I am at. In other words, there are sections which bring me comfort, challenge, encouragement and hope.
Let me encourage you to get a copy of this best seller, to read it, and let God speak to you through it.
God bless you :)
Gary Bastin - Hope Community Church leader