Just look at my collection of exercise machines! Regular use of any one of them helps to strengthen your heart, tone your muscles, keep your joints flexible, improve your mood and keep excess weight off. If they are used.

The treadmill, the oldest machine, is one we bought in the last century, a high quality Nordic Track brand that unfortunately is in like-new condition. The Schwinn Airdyne stationary bike is probably one of the best home exercise machines, engaging both arms and legs to give you a complete, low-impact workout. We bought this one used about twenty years ago so my wife could do her post heart attack rehab. It remains in fine condition apart from the light coat of dust. The last machine is a Concept 2 rowing machine which our daughter bought used about three years ago so she could work out when visiting us. It was last used in March, 2022.

Sitting in my recliner with my feet up, I seldom think about these life-improving machines in the basement. I see them as I walk past on my way to the wine cellar, and my wife catches a glimpse of them on her way to her sewing studio. As I slowly grow older, weaker, and fatter, the solution to my degeneration sits just a few steps away; unused and therefore useless.

There is another life-saving help that lies gathering dust in too many homes. People loaded down with anxiety, bearing heavy loads of guilt and doubt, spiritually weak and rundown, often fail to use the remedy that’s sitting on a shelf somewhere in the house. Or worse, maybe their Bible sits on display on a coffee table to impress visitors, but is seldom opened to access the life-giving truth found on its pages. Useless as a paper weight; a soul remedy going to waste.

Unlike my exercise machines, my Bible(s) show signs of wear. I’ve read them cover-to-cover many times. Each evening after supper, I read aloud one chapter as my wife and I in the current translation we’re working through. Here’s a picture of one bible I used for many years, the NIV, for reading, study, and preaching. You can see the sweat stains on the binding.

One of my Wednesday morning breakfast buddies told us about his “Family Bible” that dates back to the 1800s. Although many families use the Bible to record births, marriages, and deaths, it seems to me that those bibles should by now be worn out, coffee stained, and falling apart.

Is your Bible gathering dust? I urge you to open it up to find the truth of God for your life. Psalm 119 is all about the precious worth of the Word of God. Here are a few samples:

Psalms 119:14-16   In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.

Psalms 119:24   Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors.

Psalms 119:27-29   Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works. My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to your word! Put false ways far from me and graciously teach me your law!

Psalms 119:37   Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.

Psalms 119:92   If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.

Bless you as you read. And by the way, that rowing machine? I have used it three days in a row as of this writing; covering a little over 1,400 meters in ten minutes each time. It’s a start.