Most of us have probably either heard it or said it about a fellow Christian: "Boy, he really knows his Bible." Sometimes an extra line is added, "He knows the Bible better than most preachers."

I suppose that extra line could make pastors a bit defensive, sort of like "them’s fightin’ words." But on this National Bible Sunday there is something much more important than arguing over who may know the Bible the best. Because there is something more important than simply knowing Bible facts or being able to quote book and verse at every turn.

Every Christian is urged to read and study the Bible. That’s the reason we have this kind of special Sunday. It’s the only reason the American Bible Society exists, to spread copies of the printed Word. But yet there is something more important.

What …