He held up his hand in a “stop-right-there-for-a-moment” gesture. I could tell something had just triggered a disconnect in his mind.

“Let me get this straight,” he said. “You’ve been involved in developing dozens of published presentations of God’s Word in numerous translations over the last two decades, but you claim you have never sold a Bible?”

“That’s pretty much what I said,” I answered. But I knew the setting made my claim a little incongruous. At that moment, we were standing on opposite sides of a book table. It included quite a large selection of study Bibles, devotional Bibles, and several uniquely bound Bibles, along with other books that Livingstone has produced over the years. I was on the selling side of the table.

I also knew that he was perplexed over my statement since it followed hard on the heels of an exchange in which I had handed him a Life Application Study Bible and he had handed me some money. He doubted the veracity of my claim and thought his case was irrefutably made. He held out his new Bible as exhibit A and smiled. “Excuse me, but didn’t you just sell me this Bible?”

“Actually,” I said with a smile of my own, “I didn’t just sell you that Bible.”

With a friendly furrow of confusion between his eyes, my customer said, “I guess you’ll have to explain, because if it looks like a sale, and smells like a sale, and costs like a sale, I’m thinking it’s a sale.” He was gesturing with his new Bible for emphasis as he spoke. The sword-waving similarities of his actions immediately reminded me of several passages in Scripture, but I didn’t want to digress.

So, I tried to allay his curiosity with an explanation that went something like this: “The reason I try to remember to never think of the Bible as an object I sell is because God’s Word isn’t for sale. Like the gift of salvation, the Scriptures are a priceless gift from God. Whether a copy of the Bible is handed over free or sold for money, the content of God’s Word is not for sale. And putting any price on it has the subtle effect of devaluing the treasure God has given to us.

“The price tags that are affixed to copies of the Bible must always relate to what is reasonably available for sale: cost for translating, the value of various types of paper, costs for production, costs for the time to develop various features, outlay for cover choices, and dozens of other factors that create a market aspect of a particular copy of the Bible. But the value of God’s Word remains beyond calculation.

“So,” I said in conclusion, “the money you just gave me covered some of the material and human costs for that copy of Bible, but you just got God’s Word for free.”

This thought parallels one of Jesus’ parables of the Kingdom that Matthew collected in his thirteenth chapter. Jesus described our encounter with His Kingdom as an episode in which a man goes on a stroll through the fields and stumbles over hidden treasure. When he realizes what he’s found, he immediately sells everything he has in order to buy the field. The point of the parable, of course, is not that the Kingdom of God costs us everything. Rather, Jesus was telling us that even after giving up everything, the Kingdom of God always comes to us free, hiding in the field we bought. So whether we have a little or a lot to give up in order to receive God’s Kingdom, the final accounting determines that we got the Kingdom absolutely free.

Similarly, the priceless treasure of God’s Word may come to us hiding on pages of recycled newsprint between a simple paperback cover or it may be enclosed in fragrant, embossed leather and printed on fine, gilded-edge paper, but the value of the presentation never compares to the worth of the Word.

Growing up among Wycliffe Bible Translators missionaries, working in Youth for Christ, and spending years as pastor of a rural church in Wisconsin, my life has been laced with opportunities to deliver God’s Word to people in various presentations. Studying the Scriptures with others and preparing various products designed to facilitate people’s access to the Bible have created a continual metronome in my life between challenge and delight.

Now, whether assisting pastor-authors in developing manuscripts, brainstorming Bible products, or writing a continually widening variety of devotional, instructional, and expositional pieces, I find this work always stimulating. As I visit with our clients and remind them of our experience and expertise, I’m amazed how often people with whom we’ve worked for years will say, “I didn’t know Livingstone could do that! You guys can really help me!”

Nothing thrills us more than seeing a well-designed presentation of God’s Word delivered into the hands of a carefully identified audience. We enjoy thinking up new ways to make that happen. I know Livingstone can help you.

Just don’t ever ask me to sell a Bible.

Neil Wilson
Special Projects, Account and Project Manager