Leave a Stain

Make it known that you were there…

Leave some residue, make a mark, and leave a stain.

The goal isn’t to keep it in perfect condition—the goal is to dig in, excavate, and extract something from it!

A perfectly clean Bible is an unused Bible.

Think about your luggage.

The only luggage in perfect condition is luggage that’s never been used—never been anywhere.

If you’ve gone anywhere with your luggage, it quickly gets tagged, labeled, scuffed, marked, stained, worn, and torn.

How about your Bible…

Are you going somewhere with your Bible?

Leave a stain. Highlight. Underline. Write notes. Make marks.

Let some tears drop in there once in a while.

Some crumbs will probably fall in there too.

I really like the wide-margin Bibles and the note taker versions because they give you lots of room for notations.

Get yourself a great Bible and some colorful pens or highlighters.

Dig in and leave a stain!

PS—

I use my own invented “code” to notate key verses when I’m studying the Bible… it’s my way of leaving a stain so that I can find my way back to those verses easily. For example, I draw a heart by verses that talk about the heart. I also draw a star by verses I want to memorize. Here are a few others that I use:

S—salvation
R—relationships
M—mouth/words
W—wisdom
B—Bible/Word of God
U—understanding
G—giving/generous
GR—grace
CH—church
PR—prayer
PU—purity
LV—love
BL—blessing(s)
HS—Holy Spirit
TH—thoughts
TE—teachable
FG—forgiveness
FR—freedom
RT—righteousness
TR—trials
WO—worship
$—money
P—provision
K—knowledge
O—obedience
F—faith
A—attitude
E—encouragement
D—discipline
J—joy
L—leadership

This works for me. The letters/symbols that I use might not make sense for you… but I’m sharing it with you to inspire you to invent your own.