God uses the Scriptures to show us how to be more like Him. This devotion looks at how that is profitable to us.
Nuggets
- God’s goal is to make us men [and women] of God.
- The Scriptures are profitable because of dignity and authority; utility; and perfection.
- The Bible was designed by God to be a teaching book.
- God shows us He loves us through the Scriptures.
What I Believe Categories
The Scriptures
God
Man
Salvation
God’s Purpose of Grace
The Church
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
The Lord’s Day
The Kingdom
Last Things
Evangelism and Missions
Education
Stewardship
Cooperation
The Christian and the Social Order
Peace and War
Religious Liberty
The Family
God wants to mold our character. He wants disciples to be like Him.
That is why God sanctifies us. Sanctification is the transformation of mind, body, and soul beginning with regeneration and ending with perfected state of spiritual wholeness or completeness.
The goal is to take us from where we are to imitating God. God’s goal is to make us men [and women] of God.
In order to facilitate this, God has given us the Scriptures, what we call the Bible. The Bible is a guide through our process of sanctification. It outlines our duties and responsibilities.
Profitable
“All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness” (II Tim. 3: 16 CSB)
Paul wrote to Timothy that the Scriptures were profitable. The first thing that pops into our minds generally when we hear the word profitable is money. Society today has programmed us to think about money — how much we have and what it can buy us.
That isn’t the profitable that God has in mind. Look what Caryl said. He wrote, “In the plainest text there is a world of holiness and spirituality: and if we, in prayer and dependence upon God, sit down and study it, we shall behold much more than appears to us.”
Hall noted that the Scriptures are profitable because of dignity and authority; utility; and perfection. Let’s unpack those.
The Scriptures are profitable because of its dignity and authority. This book was inspired by the One who Created all there is. What better instruction book do we have than a book by the One who knows how it was supposed to be?
The Scriptures are profitable because of its utility. As we read and put the instructions into place in our lives, our lives are transformed so that we are imitators of God.
However, this only happens when we read the Scriptures to seek God. If we are reading it as a novel or just a good book, we probably won’t use it to transform our lives.
If we study and meditate on it, we acknowledge God’s authority and it’s ability to change us forever.
The Scriptures are profitable because of its perfection. The Holman Bible Dictionary says perfect is “reaching an ideal state of spiritual wholeness or completeness. … Through a covenant relationship with His people, and by grace, God thus offers to His people the possibility of perfection” (Holman Bible Dictionary). That should be a huge draw for us.
Teaching
“He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it” (Ti. 1: 9 ESV)
Scriptures teach us doctrine. According to the Holman Bible Dictionary, doctrine is “… a corporate expression of an authoritative interpretation of the faith as professed by a considerable body of church people.”
Doctrine is the truths about the gospel. This doctrine is what is taught from one person to another, from one generation to the next.
The Bible was designed by God to be a teaching book. It is divided into books, chapters, and verses for our ease. (No, the original did not have our system of division.)
It teaches us the plan of salvation and the justification needed for us to believe. No, its purpose is not to tell us how the earth was created. Its purpose is to introduce us to the Creator and His plan to restore our relationship with Him. It tells us of His grace and love.
God sees our deep need of His salvation and reveals Himself to us. Muir wrote, “It thus utterly dispels all the delusive fancies of modern rationalism, whereby man is tempted to think well of himself; and so to count that a gain to him which, if ever lie be saved, he must be content to count as loss for Christ.”
Reproof
“And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment” (Jn. 16: 8 NLT)
Reproof is where God points out the doctrine we believe is faulty. In other words, God convicts us when we are wrong — when we sin. Conviction is, according to the Holman Bible Dictionary, “a sense of guilt and shame leading to repentance.”
Emphasis should be placed on the repentance. Jones noted that God addresses ignorance, wrong thoughts and beliefs, prejudice, and lack of truth.
Correction
“For the LORD disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child” (Heb. 12: 6 NLT)
God shows us He loves through His Scriptures. One way He shows this is by giving us laws and commandments. Yes, He loves us by giving us boundaries.
“You caused judgment to be heard from heaven; The earth feared and was still When God arose to judgment, To save all the humble of the earth. Selah” (Ps. 76: 8-9 ESV). God’s goal in judgment here is to correct moral decadence and corruption.
Instruction in Righteousness
“For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age” (Ti. 2: 11-12 NIV)
A lot of the definitions I see of righteousness just say something about living right. That is a part of it.
I don’t think that is all of it.
Haven’t you heard of some worldview people argue that they live a more Christian life than disciples do?
But it isn’t about just living right. Yes, we do have to follow all of God’s laws and commandments after salvation.
If we could do live a life doing all the do’s and not doing any of the don’ts, then Jesus would not have had to die for us. But we can’t do that. We need a Savior.
To me, righteousness is the result of a solid relationship with God built by a sincere life of obedience to God’s laws and commandments.
I love what Brown said about the instruction of righteousness. He wrote, “The unlearning of man’s love to sin, the undoing of his evil habits — this is correction.”
Ooo, baby. Don’t we have to unlearn things!
People might see this only as having to “give up” sins that they really don’t want to give up. True, we are told to turn away from our sins.
But what we gain is so much more when we ask Jesus to be our Savor and God our Sovereign Lord. We gain a Guide through this life, forgiveness of our sins, and eternal life.
Making the Connections
The Bible should be our guidebook. It shows us how to navigate this life so that we can prepare for the next.
Making the Connections to Self-Discipline
It can be so easy to let the busyness of this life to eat up all of our time so that we neglect reading our Bible. We need to discipline ourselves so that we are consistently seeking God.
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17).
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3).
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16).
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11).
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2).
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11).
Loving Father. We can gain so much from reading Your Word. We can learn more about You as we read about You and as You reveal even more to us. Lord, teach us what we need to know. Correct us when we sin. Reprove us when we believe something different than Your doctrine. Always instruct us and grow us to prepare us for eternal life. Amen.
What do you think?
Leave me a comment below (about this or anything else) or head over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.
If you don’t understand something and would like further clarification, please contact me.
If you have not signed up for the email daily or weekly providing the link to the devotions and the newsletter, do so below.
If God has used this devotion to speak with you, consider sharing it on social media.
Pingback: Why Should We Study Scriptures? – Seeking God with Elaine
Pingback: How to Study Scriptures – Seeking God with Elaine