Growing up, I had a Bible resting on my bedstand. My mom gave it to me. Like most kinds, I can’t remember reading it much, but it was always there. It was a presence. I saw the Bible when I went to sleep and again when I awoke. When I looked up toward the ceiling where my plastic model airplanes hung on a wire, it was there at my side. I still have that Bible in the collection of Bibles I have used over the years. It is part of my life testimony.

We are living in a time in history where Scripture has fallen out of favor with many who claim to follow the Lord. They can’t remember the last time they read its content. The word contradicts too many of the things our culture tells us to affirm – things we digest without the filter of truth. The word of God was never intended to be an afterthought, something hard to find. It helps us direct the course of our personal lives. It can form a business plan, or help us know how to create and sustain a God-honoring nation.

If it would take some time for you to find your Bible, go look for it. Place it in a prominent place in your home. Allow it to get in the way and cause you to work around its presence. If you don’t have a tangible Bible, buy one. Computer bible programs are great and so are smartphone apps, but they aren’t prominent and always visible. They can easily dissolve into all the other technological applications available to us. Most importantly, read it and believe what it says no matter who or what considers it either out of date or confrontational. If any of this sounds a bit corny and out of date with the times, that is part of the problem.

The future we are about to encounter will require a roadmap of truth to keep our faith alive. Scripture will help us navigate our way through the canyons of error and deception that are becoming more appealing to many than the uncompromising truth of God’s word. As Paul said, because of the presence of truth, “We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever, they sound like the truth.” (Ephesians 4:14). Our only defense against such lies is the truth of God’s word. Keep it close.