I Want an Old, Tattered Bible
One of our church’s members has an old, tattered Bible. I asked her once if she had considered sending it away to be rebound. She looked at me, shocked. She could never bear to be away from her Bible for that long, she said.
I got thinking about her Bible. There was a day that I had an old, tattered Bible too. That’s changed now, but I want to go back.
From One Bible to Many and Back Again
The biggest reason I gave up my old, tattered Bible is that I changed versions, not just once but a few times. My original version was the King James Version. I still have it on my shelf. I love this version, but I’m also grateful for the newer versions that I get to use today.
But switching versions came at a cost.
For one thing, it meant that I got new Bibles. I changed my primary Bible version several times, from King James to New King James to New International Version to English Standard Version. And then I bought different editions of each of these versions.
Although I’ve been using the ESV for years, I’ve also bought multiple editions: study Bibles, journaling Bibles, preaching Bibles, and more. I don’t have one Bible that I use all the time, or even one edition in multiple places. I don’t tend to use a Bible long enough for it to become old and tattered.
I also use electronic versions. I love Logos and the ESV Bible app, and I’m going to continue to use them both. But this means that I’m not just using one Bible all the time, but many.
I’ll probably never use just one physical Bible again all the time. I’ve benefited from the multiple versions and editions I’ve used. But I have to be honest: I’ve also lost something in all the changes. I’ve lost consistency in the verses I’ve memorized, and I’ve lost the benefits of having a paper Bible that I know inside-out, and that has years of notes and highlights in it.
I’m working to get this back.
My New (Soon to Be Tattered) Bible
Late last year, I bought an ESV Journaling Study Bible. I sent it to Scriptura to be rebound with a beautiful leather cover with a strap. I’m in the process turning this new Bible into an old, tattered one by doing a few things:
- I’m adding notes from my Big Idea Bible project to every passage (something that will still take a few years).
- I’m highlighting the text using the system Tim Kerr taught me.
- Later, I’m going to add other selected notes from my 7-year Bible reading project.
- As I go, I’m going to add other notes from my Bible reading and sermons too.
I am going to start taking it with me more so that I'm using this particular copy of the Bible more and more.
As much as I want to know Scripture in general, I remember some of the advantages of getting to know a particular copy of Scripture really well, of making it my own, of being able to find passages quickly because I know it so well, and of accumulating years of notes, highlights, and tears within its pages.
I don’t want to be legalistic about this. I just want to enjoy an old, tattered Bible again. I want to get to the point where this particular copy is so precious to me that I can’t imagine sending it away either. I want to break it in, if God allows, for the rest of my life.
