The Gospel in My Language

  By: Lauren Thomas

While sitting beside one of my children this week, I noticed the back of his tub of Play-Doh. In 27 different languages it said, “contains wheat.” Twenty-seven! It got me wondering about how many languages there are in existence. A quick Google search reported that as of 2024, there are 7,164 known languages spoken around the world. Wow! That prompted another search: “how many languages do not have a Bible translation?” The answer: as of September 2023, more than 1,200 languages are still without a Bible translation. Put differently, about 17.1% of the world’s languages do not have a Bible translation. While these numbers vary based on source and the amount of Scripture translated (whole, portions, New Testament), they are staggering.

 

13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?

Romans 10:13-14a

 

How many Bibles do you have at home? I know I have plenty. Meanwhile, there are people around the world who are still unreached, who haven’t heard of Jesus in their own language, who cannot study the Gospel as revealed through His Word.

 

It’s a sobering thought that I share, not to shame anyone, but to motivate us to pray for the unreached, for missionaries, and for Bible translators.

 

I also share this to encourage you to not take for granted the accessibility of the Bible in our language; to not leave it gathering dust on a shelf; to open it and rejoice that we can call on Jesus, the name we have heard in our own tongue.

 

Reflection:

Have you read your Bible today? When was the last time you sat down to read a physical Bible? How can you thank God for His word today? How can you pray for those unreached by the Gospel?