I love to tell the story
Of unseen things in above,
Of Jesus and His glory,
Of Jesus and His love. (“I Love to Tell the Story” by Katherine Hankey and William G. Fischer)
John testified about him when he shouted to the crowds, “This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘Someone is coming after me who is far greater than I am, for he existed long before me.’” From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses, but God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us. (John 1:15–18 NLT)
Having sold a combined total of more than 500 million copies worldwide, the Harry Potter books by J. K. Rowling is the best-selling book series of all time. All on its own, the first book in the series, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, has sold more than 120 million copies. The entire series has been translated into eighty languages, putting it in the top twenty most translated works. All told, the story of a young orphan who finds out that he is a wizard is one of the most well-known stories around the world, an astonishing feat considering the first book was originally published only twenty-three years ago.
And yet, all of these records pale in comparison to the Bible. In its entirety, the Bible has been translated into 698 different languages, with that number more than doubling when only the New Testament is considered. There have been an estimated five billion copies sold, making the story of Jesus—His birth, life, teachings, death, resurrection, ascension, and eventual return—the most widely known story ever told. There is certainly good reason for that. There is no other person who has this same power to change hearts. This is why John, the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth, focused his entire ministry on pointing people toward the Son of God.
This is our lifelong ministry as well. Every follower of God has been given the simple yet profound task of bearing witness to the world around us about the story of Jesus. Make a point to follow in John’s footsteps today and tell the story of Jesus and His love to someone in need of hearing it.