During a trip into mainland China, a group of Hong Kong Christians visited a remote village. This village was a farming community with no electricity, running water or other modern conveniences. The visitors were surprised to find that, out of the village of 200, one elderly lady and her son were Christians. They had committed their life to the Lord some seven years earlier and had faced constant ridicule and persecution from their relatives and neighbours. When one member of the team gave the woman her own Bible, she clutched it to her chest, weeping for joy. For seven years, she explained, she had been earnestly praying that the Lord provide her with a Bible. With tears streaming down her face, she looked up to heaven and thanked God for hearing her prayer.
That is a story from an Online Bible School, which I belong. I think it is profitable to share that with us. For 7 years, the woman had believed God for just a Bible, and when she found one, she wept in gratitude.
You have too much of the Bible lying on your shelf, dusty, rusty and lonely. We are too blessed with availability of the written word today than ever, yet we are so poor, lacking in depth of PURE Biblical doctrines. I think that somehow unconsciously, we see the Bible as just a precious Book. If we actually see it a book written by GOD to better our lives, we will be more awake.
How shall we account for the labour of those who made the word available on our laps? Some died smuggling the Bible to us. Brother Andrew (as always called) was a rugged smuggler of the Bible. He was nicknamed ‘God’s Smuggler’. Some spent a whole lifetime writing a Commentary so that we can understand better while others spent their lives translating to us.
You have not been asked to translate, you may not re-write, you may not smuggle again...just STUDY, APPLY and SHARE with others. Is that too much to do?
This is a call for you and me to re-awaken our devotion to a life of dedicated STUDY, APPLICATION and SHARING of the Word. That is the way to remain green.
The Message Bible puts it this way ‘Stay at your post reading Scripture, giving counsel, teaching.’ It was amplified this way, ‘Till I come, devote yourself to [public and private] reading, to exhortation (preaching and personal appeals), and to teaching and instilling doctrine.’  1 Timothy 4:13.