It took me two tries to watch the movie, “The Book of Eli“. The first time, I shut it off after only the first 5 minutes. The opening scene made me ill, and the violence that followed was too graphic for my tastes.

But, my husband encouraged me to give it another go ~ he’d already seen it, so he assured me that there weren’t many more violent scenes, and that it was worth pressing on.

So, the next night, after fast-forwarding through the opening scenes, I watched the film in its entirety (closing my eyes for the major fight scenes, mind you). ;)

And hubby was right ~ the film was definitely worth watching through to the end. I’m glad I did.

If you are a born-again Christian (a follower of Jesus), I think that this is an important movie for you to watch. It really gets you thinking. And, more to the point, it reminds you of what’s truly important in life.

At one point in the movie, the girl, Solara, asks Eli what life was like before the war (the Apocalypse). And, Eli tells her about how people had more than they needed, and how they used to throw away things that wars were now being fought over (a little extra shampoo, for example).

The whole premise of the movie is that Eli is in possession of the last existing New King James Bible, and he is on a mission to carry it West, to a place where he knows it will be safe & protected. Others view this Bible — this “Book” — as a weapon, though, and will do anything to get their hands on it. They know its power, and they want that power for themselves.

This film really got me to thinking about how often I’m lax in my daily Bible reading, and about how I don’t give Scripture memory much importance (if any) in my life. Bible reading has become somewhat of a chore ~ something to tick off of my daily “to-do” list.

But… what if there were no more Bibles, and the world was given over completely to its dark side? How would I fight without my “sword“… without my armor?

Eli read the Bible every single day, “without fail”, he said. He had the whole Bible memorized, word-for-word. And, while I don’t think we’re called on to memorize the Word in its entirety, I think it’s wise for us to have a good portion of it memorized, and tucked away in the event that we need it. God even told us that we are to “be prepared” for battle (2 Timothy 4:2-5; 1 Peter 3:15-17).

In the end times, knowing what God’s book says is going to be our only weapon against evil. Jesus used it to battle temptation, and we should do the same.

And yet, in my own life, too often I give every other book more time of day than I do the most important book of all.

What a shame…

My daily prayer, from here on out, will be that God’s Word will become precious to me, and that I will not lose sight of how important it is to get God’s Word into me, buried deep for future recall. You just never know when it’s going to come in handy.