
As I’m reading my bible while sitting on a picnic table overlooking the ocean, I started thinking…
There are so many nations where this is considered illegal.
In many areas of the world, if you’re caught reading the Bible, you could be stoned, beaten, beheaded, raped, flogged, burnt, skinned, eaten…dead.
I get the freedom to read the bible but sometimes it’s more like a chore than a privilege.
There was tons of blood that was shed in order for me to hold this book in my hand and sometimes I treat it like a phone book. Stored on the shelf and used only when needed. (Who uses phone books nowadays? But you get the point…)
Jesus, Apostles, disciples, missionaries, had suffered a great deal of pain so that I could have these Holy Scriptures. Among the many, Paul was one of the greatest missionaries, and this is his letter of suffering:
“I’ve worked much harder, been jailed more often, beaten up more times than I can count, and at death’s door time after time. I’ve been flogged five times with the Jews’ thirty-nine lashes, beaten by Roman rods three times, pummeled with rocks once. I’ve been shipwrecked three times, and immersed in the open sea for a night and a day. In hard traveling year in and year out, I’ve had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with friends, struggle with foes. I’ve been at risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those I thought were my brothers. I’ve known drudgery and hard labor, many a long and lonely night without sleep, many a missed meal, blasted by the cold, naked to the weather. AND THAT’S NOT THE HALF OF IT…” 2 Corinthians 11:24-28
I need to wake up and realize how sacred these scriptures really are.