10/1/10

Good things in small packages

What makes people make Bibles like this, anyway?  They are so small there seems to be no practical value in them, but nonetheless, from time to time I continue to see things like this.  My best guess is that they are really just symbols (because the print is often too small to read without a powerful magnifier) and their real value is that they remind the owner of what they already know of the Bible.  So, the real importance of Bibles like this becomes a matter of faith.  That God can work though even such a small thing has a parallel in the Gospels and the passage I chose comes from the book of Mark.

Mark 4:26-32 (WEB)
26) He said, “The Kingdom of God is as if a man should cast seed on the earth,
27) and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he doesn’t know how.
28) For the earth bears fruit: first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
29) But when the fruit is ripe, immediately he puts forth the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
30) He said, “How will we liken the Kingdom of God? Or with what parable will we illustrate it?
31) It’s like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, though it is less than all the seeds that are on the earth,
32) yet when it is sown, grows up, and becomes greater than all the herbs, and puts out great branches, so that the birds of the sky can lodge under its shadow.”
 (Mark 4:26-32, WEB)

The Kingdom of God is a recurring theme in the Gospels.  I like to think of it a the reign or domain of God's power. The power of the kingdom is God's word and whether the word be large or extremely small, it is of great power.  When coupled with faith within the human heart it becomes a very great thing indeed.  So, its not the size of the seed (The Bible) that counts, but its power.   While the Bible in the picture is cute and quite intriguing, I still prefer to use one that has print big enough to read; I am just funny that way.