Lutheran Daily Devotional 6 May 2022 || Friday Message By Lutheran Hour Ministries.
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Topic:Â What the Bible Is Like
Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:16-17 – All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Lutheran Daily Devotional 6 May 2022 MESSAGE
This devotion pairs with this weekend’s Lutheran Hour sermon, which can be found at lutheranhour.org.
What is the second best-selling book of all time? Imagine the contest for “best-selling book of all time” were a race. If the race for world’s-best-selling book were a marathon, then the winner would be crossing the 26.2-mile finish line before the second-place runner got to mile 4. And third place wouldn’t even have made it a half a mile. In other words, in the race for the world’s-best-selling book, the winner is sprinting. And the others are crawling.
According to Russel Ash, author of the book series Top Ten of Everything, the second best-selling book of all time is a little red book published in China. It’s titled, Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung. It was first published in 1964. There have been around 900 million copies sold. In first place is the Bible, with over 6 billion copies sold, about 7 times more than second place. Third place goes to J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, with just over 1 percent of the Bible’s total sales.
The race for the world’s best-selling book isn’t even close enough to be called a race. The Bible has no competitors, no peers in its class. That’s because the Bible is God’s Book. The words of the Bible were breathed out by God Himself. That is what one of the earliest followers of Jesus said, a Jewish man named Paul, writing to Timothy, his young co-worker in God’s mission. Paul said the Bible is a God-breathed book—a book beneficial for teaching and correcting, for setting right and for training in what is right. It’s a gift from God, given so that the person who follows God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
Among all the books ever written, the Bible is clearly the winner. But it’s not the kind of winner that is content to rest on a shelf, like a trophy, gloating and gathering dust. God’s written Word is like God’s Personal Word—the Word-made-flesh, Jesus, who came not to be served but to serve (see Mark 10:45). God inspired the Bible not just to blow away the competition, but to serve us by sustaining our faith, hope, and love for Jesus, and nurture love for our neighbors. The Bible is the king of all books —the kind of king that would get up from the table, kneel to the ground, and wash our dirty feet (see John 13:5).
WE PRAY: Jesus, keep giving us Your Word as a lamp to our feet and a light for our path. Amen.
Lutheran Daily Devotional 6 May 2022 was written by Rev. Dr. Michael Zeigler, Speaker of The Lutheran Hour.
Reflection Questions:
- What was the first copy of the Bible that you could truly call yours? What made it special?
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When was a time that reading or listening to the Bible equipped you for a good work?
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If the Bible is like Jesus, God’s Servant, where do you most need its help today?
Today’s Bible Readings: 1 Samuel 28-29 Luke 23:26-56
Lutheran Daily Devotional 6 May 2022. Lutheran Hour Ministries is a trusted resource in global media that equips and engages a vibrant volunteer base to passionately proclaim the Gospel to more than 150 million people worldwide each week. Lutheran Daily Devotional 6 May 2022
