I have been going through a lot of my old junk recently. My wife and I are borderline hoarders, tenaciously clinging to every material possession we own that carries with it even the scantest trappings of sentimental value. But enough has truly become enough. We have five kids now, and we have moved cross-country multiple times with items that haven’t left their boxes in nearly 15 years. We don’t have the room for this junk, so it’s high time for a purge.

While going through my stuff the other day, I came across several Marine Corps issued Bibles and pocket NT + Psalms dating back to between 2005 and 2012. These are Bibles I never read.

It’s a shame what pride and arrogance can do to a man. Pride has done a lot of damage to me over the years, but the spiritual damage of my pride has been the worst by far. The Bible tells us that God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). Psalm 1:2-3 also tells us that the man who delights in the Law of the Lord is like a prosperous, healthy tree planted by the river. Pride certainly kept me from delighting in the Law of the Lord for many years – both my pride, and the pride of others.

I grew up in a nominally Christian household. I went to church (sometimes). I got saved when I was young (I think). I was baptized at the baptistry in my family’s pond (by an unqualified elder). I read the Bible (casually, sporadically and partially). But my small town brand of cultural Christianity was about one hair’s breadth away from being KJV only. The NKJV was an acceptable Bible translation, but you must never – and I mean never – dare to open the Non-Inspired Version (NIV).

That foolishness stuck with me for a long time. So when I was given numerous copies of the Bible in the NIV (and GNT) translations, I wouldn’t even bother looking inside them. The foolish pride of others had laid a trap for me, and I walked right into it. When the only Bible I had in front of me wasn’t a KJV or NKJV, I would just rather not read at all than read a “fake” Bible.

But the reality is that the excuse of other peoples’ pride can only get me so far. My own foolish pride is really what kept me from God’s Word. I didn’t really read my KJV or NKJV Bibles, either. I generally didn’t carry one around with me, and even when I had one, I wouldn’t really read it except for maybe a few verses here or there. I thought I knew everything. I thought I was strong. But I was wrong.

And for much of my life, I essentially ignored God’s holy and inspired Word. Pride has cost me a lot. And it made things much harder for me during a time of my life when I needed His Word the most – when I was in the darkness of military life and combat. I didn’t realize just how boxed in I was by the devil, the world, and my own sinful flesh (Eph 2:1-3).

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” (Eph 2:4-7)

Now I am a little more humble than I used to be. I still struggle with pride, but God has done a lot work on this sinner. I’m in the Word every day now. Every single day. And the Gospel really is the power of God for salvation (Rom 1:16). So please learn from my mistakes. Don’t accumulate a stack of Bibles you’ve never read.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some reading to do. I don’t think that the NIV or GNT will ever become my go-to translations, but I certainly plan to check them out in the near future.