Some time ago an academy freshman was given the assignment of defining the Bible in her own words. This statement came from an Armenian home where they baked large loaves of bread weekly. At mealtimes the homemade bread, unsliced, was passed to the members of the large family. Each one broke off a chunk of the loaf. Knowing this family custom, one can well understand the excellent definition written by this student "The Bible is a loaf. Every chapter is a chunk, and every verse, a big bite."
How true it is that the Bible is the bread of life. Every chapter is a chunk of spiritual food, and every verse a big bite! In cooperation with the American Bible Society the General Conference Committee has designated December II as Universal Bible Sabbath, to be observed in all the churches of North America by a sermon presentation re-emphasizing the importance of daily Bible reading and study.
Doubtless the members of your church have been following the Thanksgiving-to-Christmas Bible reading program sponsored by the American Bible Society. Realizing that "none but those that have fortified their minds with Bible truths will stand through the last great conflict," we should encourage our church officers and members to partake daily of the bread of life. They can grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord only as they feed daily on His Word.
Leland Wang, popularly known as the Chinese missionary to America, advocates this motto: "No Bible, No Breakfast." His insistence on regular daily searching of the Scriptures has come to be the keynote of his service. He says, "If we can eat three meals a day, we can read three chapters of the Bible daily."
In your sermon on Sabbath, December 11, inspire your entire church to follow the Bible year, completing twenty-three chapters a week, or the Character Classics, the correlated Bible and Spirit of prophecy reading plan. Observe Universal Bible Sabbath in your church by sponsoring the continuance of the daily Bible reading program during 1949.
