How to Judge a Boy by His Cover

 

Alright. I'm pretty sure some of you read the title of this post and bristled immediately. "My Mama always told me to never judge a book by it's cover! Judging is bad and..." Yeah, yeah... I know. If it makes you feel better, this post is mostly just for laughs. Mostly. There's actually a lot of truth to what I'm saying here, though. So bear with me.

Week before last, I was blessed to be able to attend a wonderful Christian camp in Mississippi. As an almost-twenty single girl, I'd be lying if I told you that I was so focused on Jesus that I didn't even notice the population of nice, godly men there. Of course that wasn't my main focus and God really moved in my life while I was there, but let's be real. I was aware that there were some good guys floating around.

Now, let me just say this. I am a picky person when it comes to relationships and I am not ashamed to say it. I have high standards. I don't just want a boyfriend. I was a best friend. I want a potential future husband. I want a ministry partner. I want a man after God's own heart -and even in situations where the population of young Christian men is significantly higher (church, Christian camps, FCA meetings, Bible study groups, etc.) it's still hard to find a man like that. Well, ladies, I have found a way to weed the guys out further. It's simple, really, and (so far) it's actually worked pretty well.

Okay. Here goes. The secret... Once you've picked the boy you think you might be interested in, take time to get a peek at his Bible. Yep. I'm serious. You can tell a great deal about a person by looking at his or her Bible. How so? Just ask (yourself... not the boy in question) the following questions about his Bible and consider what the answers to these questions potentially mean:

Question #1: What is the condition of the cover?

One of the little thing that I always (lovingly) remember about my best guy friend in high school was that his Bible was almost to be pitied. Seriously. I remember that the cover was made of brown and blue bonded leather and it was a good-looking Bible when he first got it. However, by the end of our senior year that thing looked like it was about to fall apart. The spine was breaking, the leather was worn, the pages looked rough, and there were scuff marks on the cover. Yeah. He's a little rough on everything he owns, but that's not why his Bible looked so pitiful. It looked that way because he carried it with him EVERYWHERE. My best friend was never without his Bible. Ever.

You know what else? His Bible was available to everyone who needed to use it. I'll never forget the time someone picked up my Bible (also made of blue, bonded leather) at school and flipped to Philippians for something. I was a little surprised because I didn't know the girl and she hadn't said anything to me when she walked up. After a moment, she looked up and saw me, looked back at the Bible, and gasped in horror. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! I thought this was Mickey's Bible!" I just smiled and told her it was fine and she could finish what she was reading, but what struck me about that is the fact that she KNEW that my friend's Bible was open to her whenever she needed it. Just like him.

When examining a godly guy's Bible, the first thing to look at is the cover. It's an indication of how much he uses it.

 

 

Question #2: How much "stuff" is stuck in it?



One of the guys I met at this camp I mentioned earlier is a perfect illustration of this point. I'd met him at the prayer breakfast on Tuesday morning and I knew from talking to and praying with him that he had a strong walk with God. Still, when I ran into him later at chapel, I glanced at his Bible and saw something that really appealed to me. It was full of more than just pages. It had a few church bulletins (which are good), but it also had pieces of folded notebook paper (which are great). See, church bulletins show that he regularly attends church (obviously). The notebook paper shows that he, at the very least, takes sermon notes -meaning that he's engaged in the sermon. He's not just there because he has to be. He's interested in being taught in the ways of the Lord. Now, the notebook paper in the Bible can also mean something even better... Those notes could be notes from his personal Bible study time OR it could be a combination of the two. They could be his own sermon notes. Be still, my heart. He's a pastor/youth pastor/Sunday school teacher/ministry major!*

*Note: You can easily can strike up a conversation and find out if he is a ministry major. No worries. They'll usually tell you without much digging.

In case you're curious, the guy I mentioned was, indeed, a young pastor. :)

When examining a godly guy's Bible, always remember that "stuff" is good. It usually shows that he is engaged in his faith.
 

 

Question #3: How much highlighting/underlining/writing is in the Bible?


One of the greatest indications of how strong a person is spiritually is how much he or she spends in the Word. Not just reading it, mind you, but actually studying. If you get the chance to actually see the inside of a guy's Bible, take note of how much he's highlighted and underlined in it. The more colorful, the better. Why? This means that he's studying. There are verses in God's Word that he's read and absorbed -and he wants to emphasize them. The next time he reads, he wants to be reminded of the truth that God revealed to him.

Honestly, a few years ago, I would have been appalled to see a marked-up Bible. Someone once told me that "one should not add to or take way from God's Word because it is a holy book and it should be treated with reverence." Look. Yes. It is the Holy Bible. No. The content should not be added to or taken away, BUT physically it is just a book. You can buy another one at Walmart and I strongly believe that if highlighting, underlining, and/or scribbling a note here or there helps you store scripture in your heart, I firmly believe that God would want you to mark away. After all, if we don't absorb and remember scripture, how are we supposed to live by it? I want a guy who lives by what he reads in his Bible.
 

When examining a godly guy's Bible, look for signs that he's studying.

 

 

Alright. There you have it. How to judge a boy by his cover -his Bible cover, that is. Not as awful as is sounds, is it?  Now... As for actually snagging a godly young man at a Christian function, I'm not going to go there. Just be prayerful, classy, and don't let your focus get off God. ;)

 

My point, exactly.