All Scripture

ByJim Stephens

All Scripture

Reading: 2 Kings 13-14; 2 Chronicles 25; 2 Timothy 3 15…The holy Scriptures…have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. (2 Timothy 3:15-17 NLT) Paul’s admonition to Timothy to trust in and rely on the written word of God rings as true today as it did when he wrote it from his Roman imprisonment nearly two thousand years ago. Doctrines, theories, fads, current emphases, and popular spiritual practices will come and go – always have, always will.

But The Bible, God’s written word:
• Is able to show the way to salvation.
• Is God-breathed, God-preserved, and God-applied.
• Is useful in all kinds of real-life situations.
• Teaches truth, exposes error, corrects mistakes, and trains us to live God’s way.
• Prepares and equips us for the tasks God has for us. Here’s a life-lesson for me from these verses: Value and honor the Bible as God’s inspired and living Word. Commit to a lifetime of Bible reading. Read the Bible daily, systematically, and with purpose. Read it prayerfully and thoughtfully and journal as I read so as to make application of the truths quickened by the Holy Spirit. Listen to others’ teaching from God’s word so as to develop a balanced perspective. Talk frequently with others who are also committed to the practice of daily reading of God’s Word. Put into practice what God is teaching me in daily living.

It’s not what you know, it’s what you do with what you know. Prayer: Father, I thank you for your written Word. Thank you for giving it, thank you for the people who received it and preserved it and passed it down. Thank you for those who live it and teach it. Thank you for your Holy Spirit, who breathed it in the writing and who breathes it in the application to my life. I love your Word. Amen.

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