The Book of Eli is an apocalyptic story set thirty-some years after an event decimated the earth and left a small population wallowing in depravity. While the storyline of the movie does not fit into the Bible’s description of the end times, there is a powerful theme of the “living and abiding word of God.” Eli’s “book” is the last remaining copy of the Bible, and his mission from God is to take it “west.” Nothing will stop him, not even his nemesis, who understands the power of Scripture and wants it for less than noble purposes. One does not need to watch The Book of Eli to understand the power of God’s Word.

1 Peter 1:23
…Since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God….

Throughout history, the Bible has been banned and burned. It has been criticized and written off as outdated. And yet the Bible endures not because it is just a book but because it is the Word of God. The French atheist Voltaire died in 1778. He predicted that within one hundred years after his death, Christianity would be swept from existence. Voltaire wasn’t much of a prophet. In fact, fifty years after his death, the Geneva Bible Society used his printing presses and his house to produce, store, and distribute Bibles!

It is through this living and abiding Word that we have been born again. It is through reading the Bible that we grow. It is through Scripture that we learn that God wants us to do something! And it is in Scripture that we learn what God wants us to do. So, what are you waiting for? Take out your Bible and read it!

Father may we be like Ezra, who set his heart to study your Word, apply it to his life, and then teach it to others. Help us “teach” it with our lips and with our lives. In Jesus’ name. Amen.