When We Have More Bibles Than We Read

By Michael Scheele & Christine Temko-Scheele

A Bible on the shelf is a blessing. An open Bible is an opportunity. But when we receive God’s Word and live by it, its truth reaches far beyond the page.

Recent reporting about Bible ownership in America, alongside the 2026 Bible Access List, invites us to consider something we can easily overlook: having ready access to Scripture is a privilege. Around the world, believers face obstacles ranging from poverty and distribution problems to persecution and restrictions on owning a Bible.

For those of us who can reach for a Bible whenever we want, the question becomes personal. What are we doing with that access?

Familiarity Can Make Us Forget the Gift

We love books, and antique Bibles hold a special place in our home. Their worn covers and handwritten notes remind us that other people held these pages before us. We also keep Bibles available to give away.

Yet collecting and appreciating Bibles doesn’t mean we can’t take them for granted.

When we hear missionaries describe believers who read the same few pages of Scripture repeatedly because those pages are all they have, we’re reminded of how casually we can treat what’s readily available to us.

We can have one Bible beside our morning coffee, another marked up for deep study, one for family devotions, and another we carry to church. We can choose between them without stopping to consider what a privilege it is to have even one complete copy of God’s Word. That abundance deserves our gratitude. It also calls us to examine whether we’re giving His Word the attention it deserves.

Owning, Reading, and Living Are Different Things

Owning a Bible places it within reach. Reading it brings us into contact with its teaching. Receiving its truth and responding in faith affects how we live.

Those aren’t interchangeable.

We can appreciate a beautiful binding without considering what’s inside. We can read a passage and immediately move on without examining our own hearts. We can even become familiar with biblical language while resisting what God’s Word asks of us.

The transformation that happens through Christ goes deeper than familiarity or outward appearance. We aren’t simply adding a religious habit to an otherwise unchanged life. Through Christ, we become new creatures.

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

2 Corinthians 5:17, KJV

When we open our Bibles, we should come willing to learn, willing to be corrected, and willing to obey. What we read should influence our speech, our decisions, our relationships, and our priorities.

Make an Appointment You Intend to Keep

“I don’t have time” is an easy explanation. We understand that life can be demanding. Work, children, caregiving, and exhaustion are real responsibilities.

Still, our calendars reveal what we protect.

We make arrangements to arrive at work on time. We remember appointments. We find room for things we enjoy. Our circumstances differ, but each of us has to decide where time with the Lord belongs among our priorities.

Why should keeping every other commitment matter more than keeping our commitment to Him?

Begin with a time you can realistically protect. You don’t need an elaborate routine. Open your Bible, ask the Lord to help you understand, and give the passage your attention. Consider what it teaches and how you should respond.

If your routine gets interrupted, return to it. Let a missed morning become a reason to begin again, rather than a reason to abandon the commitment.

Teach Children to Treasure Scripture Through Joy

We don’t have to make children feel guilty about having a Bible when others don’t. There’s so much to praise God for.

We can thank Him that His Word is available to us. We can talk about what we’re learning, share passages that encourage us, and let our children see that we look forward to time with Him.

Our example matters. When Bible reading is always presented as another obligation to finish, children may come to view it that way. When they see us approaching Scripture with gratitude, interest, and a willingness to obey, they see something worth embracing.

Ask what stood out to them. Welcome their questions. Talk about God’s Word during ordinary family life. Help them understand that reading the Bible is an opportunity to learn more about the Lord we love.

Let Gratitude Move Us to Action

Our response can extend beyond our own reading habits.

Pray for believers who lack access to Scripture. Pray for missionaries and those working to translate, distribute, and teach God’s Word. Raise awareness of their needs without treating their hardship as merely an illustration for our own lives.

We can also pay attention to people nearby. Someone we know may need a Bible, encouragement to begin reading, or a patient friend willing to read alongside them.

And as we encourage others, we must remain students ourselves.

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

2 Timothy 2:15, KJV

The next step is within reach. Open the Bible God has allowed you to have. Give Him your attention, thank Him for His Word, and come ready to live by what He teaches.