It seems like every few months there’s another “life-changing” book everyone is talking about. Social media is buzzing and friends say, “You’ve got to read this!”
I’m all for good books. Truth be told, my excitement over a good book often leads me to buy more than I have time to read.
What if I told you the most influential book you’ll ever read isn’t the latest bestseller? It’s a book whose newest pages were written nearly 2,000 years ago. Why would anyone still read a book that old? I think there are four compelling reasons.
1. The Bible tells the truth about us.
One of the reasons I trust the Bible is because it doesn’t try to make people look better than they really are.
Think about it. If you were writing a book to impress people, would you include Noah getting drunk, God’s #1 choice for a King having an affair and murdering someone to cover-up, Peter denying Jesus, Thomas doubting or Jonah running from God? Probably not.
The Bible doesn’t edit out people’s failures. It tells the truth about the human heart. We still wrestle with the same temptations, hopes, disappointments, and questions people wrestled with thousands of years ago.
That’s one of the reasons the Bible still feels so relevant today. It tells the truth about us and about a God who meets us with grace.
2. The Bible answers life’s biggest questions.
Every generation asks the same questions: Who am I? Why am I here? Why is the world so broken? Can I be forgiven? Is there hope beyond this life? Your phone can tell you almost anything you want to know. It just can’t tell you why you’re here. The Bible can. That’s why people have turned to it for centuries.
3. The Bible reveals who God is.
Open the Bible almost anywhere and before long you’ll discover it’s telling one story: the story of a God who refuses to give up on His people. Christians don’t simply read the Bible to gain information, we read it to know the God who inspired it.
4. The Bible still changes lives today.
Hebrews 4:12 says, “The word of God is living and active.”
Notice it doesn’t say God’s Word was living. It is living. I’ve seen the Bible restore marriages, comfort grieving families, and give hope to people who thought they had none. Including me. That’s because the Bible isn’t just a book to be admired. It’s God’s living Word, still changing lives today.
Why do we still read a 2,000-year-old book? It isn’t merely an ancient book, it’s God’s living Word. Trends come and go and bestsellers rise and fall, but the God who inspired the Bible never does.
Rev. Dr. Mike Wooton 
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