Point 2:
The Scriptures are another tool God uses to teach us His ways.
I Timothy 3:16-17,
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”
I’ve taken the time to look up the words doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction, perfect and furnished. I want to read those verses again, using the meanings I found in Vines New Testament Dictionary.
“All Scripture is inspired by God and is to our advantage in learning, in proving, in improvement of life and character, in training in righteousness that the man of God may be rendered fit, thoroughly prepared for a special purpose.”
Every school has textbooks of study and God’s school is no exception. While other schools have a different textbook for each course offered, God’s school is different in that it has only one textbook that is used for every class. That textbook is the Bible, God’s book of instruction on learning the ways of God.
God has mandated this book (which he himself authored) as the only study book we need to study. So we can graduate with honors from his school. God admonishes us about this book in I Timothy 2:15, “Study and be eager and do our utmost to present ourselves to God’s approval, a workman (let’s call it, student) that has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing, rightly handling the Word.” (Amplified Version)
God’s textbook is the most alive study manual you will ever encounter. It not only instructs, but it’s truths go beyond ones mind and gets into the spirit. Have you ever experienced the reading of the Word of God and all of a sudden the portion you’ve been reading jumps right off of the page at you saying, “I’ve got you?” Do you know why it can do that? It is because it’s alive and powerful.
Hebrews 4:12, (Weymouth) tells us, “God’s message is full of life and power and no created thing can escape its scrutiny.”
Every child of God needs to be in the Word. If we are neglecting reading the Word and hearing the Word, we are neglecting an aspect of God’s training. The Word of God coming into our life has to do with the renewal of the mind. Romans 12:2, says it like this, “Be ye not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
The reason for this renewing is that when we come to Christ we are foreign to the ways of God. We have done things so often and so long our way that we continue to do it our way automatically unless our thought processes are brought into line with his. The Holy Spirit gives our thought processes a good Kingdom of God brain washing with the Word of God. Ephesians 5:26, “that he might sanctify it with the washing of water by the Word.” The Holy Spirit ministers in the renewing of the mind with the Word of God so that when we’re in a situation that we’ve been in over and over again, we won’t react the way we use to, but we’ll now respond his way because we’re learning the ways of God.