The Legacy in My Bible

Like most people, I have stuck notes of all kinds in the pages of my Bibles (I have two, a large study one and a slimline one to take to Sunday School and church so I don't have to lug that big one on Sunday mornings!), carefully placed there down through the years. In addition, I have underlined and made countless notes in the margins of almost every book as I have studied the Scriptures in the course of Bible studies, SS lessons, church services, devotional times--whenever God has spoken to my heart over the years. But never did I imagine I was creating a lasting legacy by doing so, until recently when a friend's testimony touched me deeply.

When my friend’s mother passed away not long ago, she inherited her Bible and to her great delight discovered a treasure beyond compare. It seems that her mother had done the same thing I have, tucked away various items that had meaning to her from time to time down through the years. One of those was a poem she had written to her children about her own death but they had never read! In addition, the verses she had underlined in her studies now serve as a silent testimony for her daughter to a living faith that has survived beyond the grave. Nothing could replace that!

Readers and authors alike must keep pace with the rapid and dramatic twists that technology offers or risk becoming lost in a whirlwind of confusion and frustration. What was considered a novel approach one week quickly is replaced by one that is essential in the publishing industry, for example, and ignorance can be the death knell for a writing career. This includes methods for personal Bible study as well as for leisure reading, research purposes, and advanced learning situations.

Some people glide into this revolution easily and with great enthusiasm; others have to be dragged kicking and screaming. Often I find myself in this latter category, I must admit, but I am taking “baby steps” to immerse myself into social media, for instance, that a few years ago would have been unthinkable. There is one area, however, at which I draw a hard and fast line. And when my friend shared her feelings about her mother’s Bible that day, it was a monumental revelation to me. What if her mother had used an online version of the Bible with all those priceless notes lost for all eternity?

So I pose this question to you now, as my friend did that day: what kind of a legacy are you leaving behind in your Bible, however unintentionally? Will it be something that future generations will someday tap into in order to know you more fully and understand your faith walk, and perhaps thereby experience a powerful change that will echo throughout eternity, long after you are gone? Or will it be an item of technology that no one even remembers how to turn on? I pray how I walk this road will honor God and bless my children in the years to come!