Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. (Colossians 4:5-6 ESV)

How well did you measure up to this today? At work. At the store. Anywhere you found yourself.

No word from your mouth should call into question your Christianity. Be on your guard, considering what your speech sounds like to others, even your brothers and sisters in Christ. If you've flubbed up, you're not the first. No one has mastered the tongue completely (James 3:8). Confess your shortcoming to God and ask Him for direction. And don't be surprised if he tells you to apologize to someone!

For more on this subject, see my Xanga entitled An Experiment in Silence.

If you've been thinking about expanding your Christian reading to the classics, here's a nice little collection to get you started.

Christian Classics Collection, 6 Volumes By Baker What makes a book a classic? Its timeless insight and profound wisdom! Here in one affordable collection are six priceless masterpieces that no Christian should be without---The Pilgrim's Progress, Foxe's Book of Martyrs, The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life, The Practice of the Presence of God, My Utmost for His Highest, and In His Steps. Softcovers.

These books are also available separately:

• The Practice of the Presence of God
  By Brother Lawrence / Baker
• Pilgrim's Progress: One Man's Search for Eternal Life -A Christian Allegory
  By John Bunyan / Baker
• The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life
  By Hannah Whitall Smith / Baker
• Foxe's Book of Martyrs
  By Baker
• My Utmost For His Highest, Classic Edition, Mass Market Paperback
  By Oswald Chambers / Discovery House Publishers
• In His Steps, Mass Market Edition
  By Charles M. Sheldon / Barbour Publishing

In case you haven't seen it, there's a new guide available in the Bible and Reference Guides section (on the left side) here at BibleStoreBrowser.com. If you're looking for the best Bible translation to meet your needs, I have some tips on how to find it. Here is the new guide:

FAQ: What Bible translation should I use?

I have been asked a number of times, "What's the best Bible version?" There is no easy answer to this as there are many translations with their own strong points and weak points. What is best for one person will be insufficient for another. There are a few questions you can ask yourself to help with your choice.

What's your purpose for the Bible? What do you want to do with it? Is it for devotions or for study? Are you the only one who will be reading it? What do you like and not like about the current Bible version you use? Describe your ideal Bible.

Some versions are better than others for a person's Bible reading goals. Once you have defined your goals, start learning about your options. I like Bible comparison charts as a good start. You can find one online or look for what will probably be a large laminated chart somewhere in the Bible display area at your local Christian store. I was pleasantly surprised by Amazon's Bible Comparison Chart. The Bible translation information pages at Christian Book Distributors give a good discussion of the most popular translations as well as a brief introduction to formal and dynamic equivalence and paraphrases. Using these tools, you will likely be able to narrow your choices.

My final suggestion for choosing a translation is to look at them for yourself. Flip through them and read some passages, evaluating how well they will meet your reading goals. I also like to turn to at least one passage with which I am familiar or that I have studied recently to see how they compare. You can either find the translations online or go to your local Christian store.

As always, the most important ongoing step is to read your Bible. The best Bible for you is no good if it's collecting dust.

I've been curious about the book 23 Minutes in Hell: One Man's Story About What He Saw, Heard, and Felt in That Place of Torment, which I've seen a lot lately, but hadn't checked it out because I thought it didn't really fit with the purpose of this site. Today, though, I forgot to turn off the television after we finished watching a video. I was surprised when the satellite kicked on and the show coming on would be discussing this book.

I don't believe in consequences, so that is why I am sharing this book with you. Bill Weise, the author, had been a conservative Christian for 36 years when, in 1998, he was lying in bed one moment and transported to Hell the next. He shares what he experienced not to condemn anyone, but to say Hell is a very real and terrible place, but the good news is that nobody has to go there.

23 Minutes in Hell: One Man's Story About What He Saw, Heard, and Felt in That Place of Torment By Bill Wiese / Strang Communications What does an eternity in torment look like, and how can it be avoided? God allowed Wiese to spend time in the devil's lair, and now he shares what he saw, heard, and felt. Along with hundreds of Scriptures referencing hell's horrors, Wiese shares his insights to commonly asked questions such as "Is hell a literal burning place?", "Where is hell?", "Do you have a body in hell?" and "Can 'good' people go to hell?"

[To Saul:] But now your kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought out a man after his own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you." (1 Samuel 13:14 ESV)

Therefore you are great, O LORD God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. (2 Samuel 7:22 ESV)

So David reigned over all Israel. And David administered justice and equity to all his people. (2 Samuel 8:15 ESV)

Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. (2 Samuel 12:9 ESV)

King Saul lost his kingdom because he didn't do what the Lord commanded. The Lord had instead sought a man who was after His own heart. Finally on the throne, David praised God for the marvelous things He had done in his life. At some point, though, his heart must have begun wandering.

For further study:
Saul lost his kingdom because he didn't follow God's commands. Why do you think David was not punished in the same way?

As you look at the above verses, you may find it hard to believe they all pertain to the same man. How can someone called a man after God's own heart drift so far from that same God that he would sin so grievously? He coveted his neighbor's wife, committed adultery with her, and lied about it with an attempt to cover it up by arranging for the murder of her husband. He was so blind to the sin that he didn't even realize he'd done something wrong until Nathan the prophet told him (See 2 Samuel 12:1-7).

Something like this doesn't just happen overnight. The drift--the slippery slope, if you will--comes long before such a fall as this. It happens in the heart, that within us which is able to deceive unlike any other (Jeremiah 17:9). Therefore, we must be careful to guard our hearts. We must pray regularly for God to search our hearts and try our thoughts to see if there is grievousness in them and to lead us in the way everlasting (from Psalm 139, before David became king over all Israel).

There is one more vital Scripture for us to see. It is one of utter brokenness over sin.

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. (Psalms 51:1-4 ESV)

Are you so far in sin you don't even know it? Maybe your heart has deceived you. If it has, you may not even know the answer is "yes." Take the time right now to pray that God would reveal to you any error in your ways. Be ready for the truth, no matter how ugly it is! . . .Because when you have confessed and repented, you will feel more free than you have in a long, long time. That's the freedom that Jesus brings! Remember it?

So maybe you're not in sin on a regular basis, but perhaps there is at least one area of obedience where you are lacking. Reading your Bible regularly? Praying? Ridding your surroundings of things that disgrace the Lord? What about following through on something God has shown you, but you just keep allowing to slip by? In your quiet time today, begin to seek God's counsel on this and watch how He works. You might also enjoy my friend Jé's convicting article on seeking God first.

Glorify God for the things He reveals!

In the last few Bible Study entries, we have been using a passage in 1 Corinthians to learn more about studying the Bible. We began with a summary of the text, then investigated the context, and finally learned about several tools for word studies. To wrap up this series we compare some translations and, in the process, learn something interesting about Bible translation. . .

Here's a stumper. Compare 1 Corinthians 3:3 in a few different translations. (The Search the Bible box to the right is really handy if you don't have Bible software on your computer.) If you look at some translations like the King James Version, you might notice that 1 Corinthians 3:3 includes "divisions" in its list of characteristics of the worldly (also, fleshly, carnal) individual, while most others do not.

What's up with that?

Well, one could go into a lengthy discussion on the subject of codices and texts and the like, but the short and simple answer is that not all translations use the same set of sources from which to translate the Bible. In regard to this particular verse, it can be noted that "and divisions" is not found in the Alexandrian copy, the Latin Vulgate, and other sources.

Can we trust the Bible if the sources don't agree?

Absolutely! Because God provided His message across the breadth of Scripture, there is not one difference between sources that will call any doctrine into dispute.

Praise God for keeping His Word together and providing it for us to study in ways previous generations never dreamed!