Burn them! - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2025

Receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
James 1:21.22.

Burn them!
Several years ago an evangelist was travelling through Sicily. Going through a forest one day he was stopped by an armed man who asked: "What have you got in your rucksack?" - "Bibles," the Christian replied. - "Then light a fire and burn them!" the robber retorted. With a heavy heart the evangelist lit a fire in a clearing then made one request: "Permit me to read a short passage from each book before throwing it into the fire." From the first Bible he read Psalm 23, from the next the parable of the prodigal son, from the third extracts from the sermon on the mount, then the chapter on love in 1 Corinthians 13.

After each reading the robber interrupted him: "Stop! That's a good book. Give it to me!" Finally he went off with the rucksack full of the Bibles, while the evangelist remained there relieved and unharmed.

Years later he met the thief again, but to his joy now as a true believer, who told him about his conversion and concluded by saying, "Reading your books changed me."

The Bible is a very special book: it is the Word of God. It awakens a desire in our conscience for God's forgiveness. It reveals the greatness of God's love to our hearts. In this book we meet Jesus Christ, who wishes to grant us new, eternal life. Whoever has had this experience finds in the Bible a source of encouragement and joy on the pathway of faith.

Today's reading: Exodus 10:12-23 · Luke 4:31-44