The Four Things You Should be Letting Scripture do in Your Life

I read about a study that was done on the Baka people, a tribe living in the rain forests of central Africa. They found that by the age of 12 the children in this tribe had amassed a PHD-level of knowledge in botany (the biology of plants and fauna). 12. Years. Old.

Despite having one of the best education systems in the world, none of us would be surprised to find that most 18 year-olds in the U.S. don’t even possess a high-school level of knowledge in the field of botany. So how is it that these tribal children can remember all the different types of plants, berries, moss, and trees? Because their life depends on it. It’s amazing how much the human brain can hold when your survival depends on it.

You'd be hard-pressed to find a common Christian of any age who has amassed that level of familiarity with the Bible. The reality is we will never make the Word a daily part of our lives until we recognize just how direly we need it. You will only know fully what you regard highly.

THE WORD

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

- 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Prioritizing time for the Word is certainly a discipline. It becomes even more difficult knowing that it's not always a pleasant experience. According to Paul's instruction to Timothy, 50% of the time that we open the scriptures or hear them preached they should be correcting or rebuking us. As much as we love the other 50% that encourages and affirms us, our spiritual formation requires both.

The Four Things You Should be Letting Scripture do in Your Life

1. Teach You

INFORMATION

The Bible is infallible, inerrant, and inspired by God. It's not a book, but rather 66 books of various genres including history, poetry, prophecy, and letters. It's important to understand the Bible must be read within the framework of the context it was written in. (I'll do another blog in the future about proper context.) For the sake of what I'm addressing this week, the bottom line is, some days your Bible reading will inspire you, while other days it will just simply inform you.

The scriptures detailing ancestral lines in Genesis 5 are no less God-breathed than the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5. We need ALL of it. The greek word for teach is directly related to the word doctrine. I have found over the years that talking about doctrine often makes people uncomfortable. I'm sure, in part, it's because we don't feel like we really know enough about it, so we can be intimidated when it gets brought up. But more often it seems that we've somehow made doctrine and theology out to be less spiritual and more religious in nature. I certainly used to think that way.

Being young and on fire for God, loving the Word and yet understanding very little about theology, I was convinced I only needed to know Jesus and follow the Holy Spirit. In my own way I had become a pharisee towards those who were actually working through doctrine, thinking they were making faith too "academic." To be fair, I believe that is possible and does happen in some cases, but hear me, doctrine and theology are not the enemy of our faith. They are actually the protector of it.

I don't want to overstate my point here, but the Apostle Paul mentions the importance of having proper and sound doctrine in his letters VERY OFTEN:

...so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. (Titus 1:9)

- But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. (Titus 2:1)

- So that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine... (Ephesians 4:14)

- If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ..." (1 Timothy 6:3)

Here's what I'm getting at: you're not compromising your faith by analyzing it and defining it. In this hour every believer must be prepared to declare and defend exactly what they believe and that comes by way of not only being a reader of the Word but a student of it. Seek to be informed by the scriptures.

2. Train You

INSTRUCTION

At the end of His most famous sermon in Matthew 7 Jesus concludes by saying, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock." In other words, if you hear this, read this, sing this in songs on Sunday but don't actually DO this, you have not only wasted your time, you've wasted your life.

The Words of God are ALWAYS for our benefit. Unfortunately, we are still tempted to read these words as great thoughts and encouraging reminders rather than the instructions that they truly are.

In Luke 18 a rich, young ruler approaches Jesus, addressing Him as "good teacher" and asking what must be done to inherit eternal life. Jesus responds, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God." At which point we all scratch our heads and start googling to find an explanation in someone's blog.

Jesus was forcing this man to make a decision in his heart; am I good or am I God? If Jesus is just good, then we will take His words as great suggestions and highly regarded advice. But if He's God, then His words must be law. They will not just have a place in my life, but rather authority over my life. The Bible will only have the ability to shape and mold your life if you receive it as the Word of God and not just the words of man. Allow the scriptures to instruct your life.

3. Correct You

REDIRECTION

It never fails, when I rely on someone in the passenger seat to navigate the GPS we ALWAYS miss a turn at some point. Maybe it's because I'm too controlling, too frantic, or too perfect (I choose to believe the last one) but I know keeping an eye on the phone for myself is the best way to prevent a misstep.

I've found that every wrong decision I make in life is because I listened to the wrong voice. Most of the time it's my own, but any voice apart from God's is the wrong voice. Making mistakes is a part of life, we must all accept that. But perhaps harder to accept is that mistakes need correction. There is no growth, no maturity, no health without correction.

In James 1:23 it says that when we fail to apply the Word we are like a man who looks in a mirror but immediately forgets what he looks like. Why do we look in mirrors? Sure, there are some who just want to bask in their own beauty but for the rest of us who aren't kidding ourselves, it's mainly to fix what's out of whack. When you look in a mirror you are immediately drawn to the flaws. You see the hairs out of place, the acne beginning to form, the teeth not perfectly aligned... you see what you want to fix.

When we open the scriptures they expose the flaws. Their purpose is to reveal to us where we are falling short. The beauty of God's grace is that He is even more aware of our shortcomings than we are, yet He died to cover them. Don't avoid getting in the Word in order to avoid dealing with your sin and mistakes. If you do, you'll avoid conforming to the will of Christ and His perfect plan.

4. Rebuke You

RECONSTRUCTION

What's the difference between correction and rebuke? Well, sometimes you need the Lord to change some things in your life and other times you need Him to kill some things.

God has a tendency to break what He blesses. Before Jesus took a child's happy meal and dispersed it among 5,000 people in John 6 the Bible says He blessed the bread and then He broke it. If you want to be blessed you should expect to be broken at times in your life. Broken of your sin, your selfishness, your ambition, your kingdom, your will...

The greek word for rebuke is often translated as convict. To be rebuked of your sin is to be convicted of it, or convinced. That's ultimately what rebuke does, it cuts us to the heart in such a way that we cannot deny our own depravity and need for God's grace.

In a courtroom a conviction is the formal declaration that someone is guilty. Once someone is convicted that means the jury has adjourned, the judge has ruled, and the case is closed. In the kingdom, though the blame is on us, the burden is on Christ. We may have been on trial, but He took the sentence. So know this, in your rebuke, there is redemption. Who He rebukes, He reforms. He is a father who disciplines those He loves and calls His own. Heed those rebukes and know this is necessary for your formation.

CONCLUSION

I'll cut to the chase so you can stop reading this and start reading your Bible now. The Bible is your daily bread. Go read it.