Mart Green is the ministry investment officer of Hobby Lobby and founder of Mardel Christian & Education, a book store and education supplier with a Christian focus.  Green is involved in a mission to help translate God’s Word into every language in the world, so that each and every person can read the Word of God in his/her own language.

In a recent article in www.foxnews.com, Green shared an encounter with a man that renewed his focus of trying to get the Bible into every country and language:

I’d been supporting a painstakingly laborious Bible translation project in Guatemala and began to question my "return on investment."  It seemed to me I’d put a considerable sum of money into a project that would benefit just a few hundred people, or a few thousand at most.

To be honest, I was a bit cranky when I got off the uncomfortable 10-hour bus journey to attend the ceremony marking the completion, at last, of the translation of the Bible into the Eastern Jakaltek language – an endeavor 40 years in the making.

Then I saw Gaspar – and my life changed forever.

Gaspar, one of the local people, was sobbing with sheer joy as he took the Bible, his own Bible in his own language, into his hands.  I’d never held a Bible like Gaspar did – as if he were grasping the most precious item in the world.

Now, how will you hold your Bible?

The Bible is the most precious item in the world because it is God’s Word.  In its pages, God reveals Himself to us.  We can read and study about who God is and know His will for us.  Through the Scriptures, we learn how much God loves us: that He gave His only Son to die on the cross for our sins so that we can be reconciled to Him and live with Him for eternity in heaven (John 3:16; Romans 6:23; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21).

God has revealed in His Word that He will save and give eternal life to those who place their faith and trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from their sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).  God’s Word teaches that as we continue to walk in the light of His Word that the blood of Jesus continues to cleanse us from all sin (1 John 1:7-9).

In his research, Green learned that “more than a billion people – speaking some 3,800 different languages – have little or no access to the Bible in a language they can clearly understand.  More than 2,000 languages don’t yet have a single verse of Scripture.”  So he has resolved to do something about it, so that the world may know God and His will for our lives.

“This movement is especially significant as we remember that heaven and earth meet at the point of God’s Word,” says Green.  “The Word became flesh and lived among us – Jesus, the Living Word – giving you and me the hope of everlasting life through His resurrection, and leaving us with the great commission to share the Gospel with every creature and make disciples of all the nations (Matthew 28:16-20).”

Please pick up your Bible.  Think of Green and Gaspar.  Treasure the Word of God.  Read it and heed it.  It will change your life, forever.

-- David A. Sargent

* Information gleaned from “Mart Green: Mission of biblical proportions – this is how we're taking God's Word to every corner of the world” in www.foxnews.com, accessed April 16, 2021.

David A. Sargent, Minister

Church of Christ at Creekwood 
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama  36695

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