This past Sunday we talked about The Bible and why it is so important as a follower of Jesus to get in God’s word consistently. I introduced this verse:
2 Timothy 3:16
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
For the next two days I want to break down this verse and what it means for us. LATER this week I’ll give you some very practical steps on how and where to get started reading your Bible. These things were REALLY helpful for me when I first started reading my Bible. Remember, God wants us to be successful, but success comes from following HIS instruction that’s laid out in HIS Word.
The Bible Teaches
We all need to be taught things we don’t know . . .
I remember going to Chick-Fil-A one time (I absolutely LOVE Christian Chicken and I’m pretty sure they’ll be an all you can eat Chick-Fil-A buffet in heaven). I ordered an extra chicken sandwich and took it to-go. I put it the refrigerator to heat it up as a snack or a meal for later. The next day I took it out of the refrigerator and put it in the microwave. The only problem was that I didn’t take the sandwich out of the Chick-Fil-A sandwich packaging. One thing I didn’t know was that the inside of Chick-Fil-A sandwich packaging is lined with aluminum foil to keep the sandwich hot. I ALSO didn’t know that you couldn’t put aluminum foil in the microwave. After about 20 seconds of watching this sandwich heat up I started seeing sparks in the microwave. I thought to myself, “Hmm. That’s not normal.” But I let it continue to nuke. I turned my back for about 15 seconds and by 35 seconds the sandwich had turned into an incendiary poultry fire ball!
I just didn’t know you shouldn’t do that!! There are so many things about life that we just don’t know! Just like my flame-throwing microwave incident, if we continue going through life being ignorant of what we should know but don’t know it will lead to devastation and destruction! When we’re trying to make financial decisions, when we’re trying to make relationship decisions, when we’re trying to make career decisions, when we’re trying to make parenting decisions, we often DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO! The Bible is the source of ALL the wisdom we need in every aspect of life! It instructs us on how to live in ALL of those decisions.
What’s crazy is that I can read the Bible a hundred times and get something new out of it each round! Because the Bible is soooooo rich with GREAT TEACHING!
The Bible Rebukes
If someone rebukes you it means they are calling you out for going over the line. This is the part of the Bible that we don’t like. I’ll be honest with you, there are things in the Bible that I read that don’t make me feel good. It’s never “fun” to be called out for going over the line, however we can all agree that occasional rebuke is NECESSARY for our protection.
For example: when you get pulled over by a cop for speeding or running a red light you’re receiving a rebuke. No one enjoys this, but we can agree that if cops didn’t rebuke people roads would be TERRIBLE to drive on. Everyone would do whatever they wanted! If everyone in Indianapolis left work today and decided to disobey traffic laws and red lights, all HELL would break loose!
So while we don’t ENJOY rebukes, they are extremely necessary for our safety, protection, and peace! When you read the Bible or sit in church and feel conviction for something you’re doing that’s not right, you should listen to it! Embrace the rebuke! It’s not natural, but it’s EXTREMELY BENEFICIAL!!
Tomorrow, I’ll go over the last 2 things that Timothy says God’s Word does for us.
- Davey Blackburn
Davey Blackburn is the lead pastor of Resonate Church. You can find him on Twitter at @daveyblackburn.