Giving Away God’s Word


Whenever I lead someone to the Lord, I usually take an extra minute to encourage the newborn believer to pray, read the Bible, and attend a good church. When I specifically talk about the Bible, I will ask if he (or she) has one at home. If he doesn’t, then I ask, “If I give you one, will you read it?” Sometimes people will answer, “Probably not.” In cases like that, my next question for them is, “What would happen if you stopped eating food?” They usually say they will get weak or die. I then point out the same thing can happen to them spiritually. Reading God’s word feeds a person’s spirit.

Don’t think someone’s salvation isn’t legitimate just because he doesn’t immediately get excited about reading the Bible. One reason may be this person thinks he has to read an older translation like the King James Version that can be hard to understand. Another reason might be some people think they are supposed to read the whole Bible like a regular book. Although that’s a good habit for any believer, it can be intimidating for someone not familiar with God’s word. 

A couple of times as a boy, I started reading the book of Genesis but soon lost interest when getting to the genealogies. Years later when my brother-in-law led me to the Lord, he gave me two bibles. One of them was in a comic-book format. For a while, I mostly read that one. The illustrations and the more conversational-like words spoken by the characters made it easy for me to understand Christian principles. 

Nowadays, I encourage new believers to begin reading the gospel of John to better understand what Jesus has done for them. For years I have mostly given away small New Testaments to people who don’t have a Bible. Then one afternoon I stopped at a Wal-Mart and ended up witnessing to a young man smoking in his car. After Jeremy prayed to receive salvation but wasn’t interested in receiving a bible from me, I remembered having gospels of John in my back pocket. Jeremy was more receptive to receiving one of those.

Of course, it’s important for every believer to eventually become familiar with all of God’s Word.

“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” 
- 2 Timothy 2:15 (NIV)

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