I was visiting an elderly man in a local nursing home. After talking to him for a while, as I usually do, I asked if I could read something from the Bible for him to encourage him. I read from John’s gospel.

As I read, I could hear him quietly saying the words along with me. But when I stopped, he carried on!

God’s Word wasn’t just on the page anymore – it was in his heart and mind. And not just a verse here and there, but whole chunks of it. And just as well, because his eyes weren’t what they used to be!

I asked him about his memory for Scripture. He told me that as young man he lived in Sydney, and travelled to work on the train. He felt inspired not to waste the journey, and so each day he would read a bit of the Bible, and then test how well he remembered it, read it again… until he knew it.

60 or 70 years later, it was still there.

What this man was doing was obeying the words of Colossians 3:16: ‘Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…’ – Colossians 3:16 (ESV)

We live in a time where knowledge is at our fingertips. We even have God’s Word, literally, at the touch of a button. But with all this access to the Bible, do we really know it?

Are you reading your Bible often, and letting it dwell in you richly? When it does, it’s an encouragement in despair, a certainty in anxiety, a warning in comfort, and a ready weapon to kill sin. A wise man once said that the devil is not afraid of a dusty Bible.

Live it: Don’t just keep God’s Word on your phone or in a book. Let it settle down in your heart and mind, and dwell there richly. Maybe commit to a new Bible reading plan or daily devotional.