National Bible Week
Floor Speech
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Mr. BACON. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend from Colorado for giving me the opportunity to share my faith tonight. It is the most important aspect of my life.
I became a believer at the age of 13. I thank my dad for taking me to church every week and for leading Bible studies with our family. I learned at a young age that our God is the mighty creator of the universe, a just God who is holy and perfect, a loving God that cares for each of us, and He made salvation possible through having faith and believing in His Son, Jesus.
The Bible is the most important book ever written, and in the end, it is the most valuable possession I own. A Bible may cost only $20, but the values of lives changed for eternity cannot be measured.
I am grateful the Bible teaches us who God is, about His character. I am also grateful the Bible tells us about the hope we can have in our eternal future. Without that hope, I know I would feel lost.
I love the verses where Jesus says:
My Father's house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you may also be where I am.
There is eternal life. There is hope.
I am thankful the Bible gives us directions on how to live and provides a roadmap for life. Without that guidance, again, I would feel lost.
Also, I am thankful that the Bible gave me confidence in frightening moments. In one of my four deployments to the Middle East, I was deployed to Baghdad, where we were attacked every single day with mortars and rockets, sometimes 30 rockets or mortars a day. People were being killed around me.
God said in Matthew: Do not fear man who can take your life but not your soul.
I meditated on that verse every day. My soul was secure, and God told me not to fear. In times of life, when things seem unfair, I am reminded of the words God gave the Apostle Paul when He said: ``My grace is sufficient for you.'' I have often had to be reminded that God's grace has been sufficient for me.
Mr. Speaker, I will close with an anecdote from Abraham Lincoln, in my mind, our greatest President.
In 1864, some former slaves from Maryland presented Lincoln with the gift of a Bible, and Lincoln replied: ``In regards to this great Book, I have but to say it is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Savior gave to the world was communicated through this Book.''
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