Last night for our first verse on our irreplaceable gift of the Holy Bible.
First - I was SO reminded of the other aspect of the third use of Scripture that we discussed last night...correction, from my friend Donna. She made me realize that I only applied the applied use of Scripture as a tool in correcting others...but didn't even mention the fact that correction most often applies to Scripture's effect on us personally! It is when we read Scripture that the Holy Spirit whispers in our ear, "You might want to pay attention to this part...you've really been lacking in this area", or..."How does what you're reading right now compare to the way you lived today...are you in line with what God is expecting of you as His servant and as His messenger?" Scripture corrects. It corrects us on a daily basis as we allow it to. But we have to keep our spiritual ears open and our hearts soft so that we can be pliable to its correction and allow ourselves to humbly accept that God's Word is the authority, over and above what we think.
At one time there was a bumper stick that said, "God says it, I believe it, that settles it." And I thought that was pretty good to remember. Until I heard a minister point out that the phrase was really in error. He pointed out that it should read, "God says it, that settles it." My belief does not affect the absolute truth of God's Word. Whatever He says stands.
Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." I don't think that most of us really know what "righteousness" means. What do you think?
Strong's definition: "in a broad sense: state of him who is as he ought to be, righteousness, the condition acceptable to God.
This is one of those areas that it is easy for us to say, "Well I can't ever be truly righteous...God knows that I will never be what I ought to be." But Jesus tells us that those who yearn for righteousness will be blessed. And we are told in our verse that the Bible is profitable to us for training in righteousness. So we should put righteousness as our goal and we should use the Bible to help us train for that goal.
Brings to mind Paul's exhortation in Philippians 3:8-15, "What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things."
Pressing on - striving toward what is ahead. Not being content with what we are, but knowing that God is ready to train us on a daily basis toward the righteousness that He intends for His children.
No, we will never attain complete righteousness, other than what we can claim through the blood of Jesus over our lives. But we can bring glory to God and express to Him our gratefulness for what He has done by striving to be all that we can be during this "earth story" portion of our eternal lives. And that hunger and thirsting to be as righteous as we possibly can be will bring us blessing, just as Jesus promised.
Let's commit to a more rigorous training program. We can become stronger...we can run further...we can bear more weight...we can become the spiritual Olympians that God sees in us. This reminds me of the admonition that Paul gives Timothy, and the verse that I will close with, 1 Timothy 4: 7-8, "train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come."
First - I was SO reminded of the other aspect of the third use of Scripture that we discussed last night...correction, from my friend Donna. She made me realize that I only applied the applied use of Scripture as a tool in correcting others...but didn't even mention the fact that correction most often applies to Scripture's effect on us personally! It is when we read Scripture that the Holy Spirit whispers in our ear, "You might want to pay attention to this part...you've really been lacking in this area", or..."How does what you're reading right now compare to the way you lived today...are you in line with what God is expecting of you as His servant and as His messenger?" Scripture corrects. It corrects us on a daily basis as we allow it to. But we have to keep our spiritual ears open and our hearts soft so that we can be pliable to its correction and allow ourselves to humbly accept that God's Word is the authority, over and above what we think.
At one time there was a bumper stick that said, "God says it, I believe it, that settles it." And I thought that was pretty good to remember. Until I heard a minister point out that the phrase was really in error. He pointed out that it should read, "God says it, that settles it." My belief does not affect the absolute truth of God's Word. Whatever He says stands.
Now on to the final aspect of the profitability of Scripture...."training in righteousness." Isn't that just a beautiful phrase. Training in righteousness. Who would not opt to become a person of righteousness? And yet, we do opt to ignore our Bibles and fore go the training that is readily available to us.
Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." I don't think that most of us really know what "righteousness" means. What do you think? Strong's definition: "in a broad sense: state of him who is as he ought to be, righteousness, the condition acceptable to God.
This is one of those areas that it is easy for us to say, "Well I can't ever be truly righteous...God knows that I will never be what I ought to be." But Jesus tells us that those who yearn for righteousness will be blessed. And we are told in our verse that the Bible is profitable to us for training in righteousness. So we should put righteousness as our goal and we should use the Bible to help us train for that goal.
Brings to mind Paul's exhortation in Philippians 3:8-15, "What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things."
Pressing on - striving toward what is ahead. Not being content with what we are, but knowing that God is ready to train us on a daily basis toward the righteousness that He intends for His children.
No, we will never attain complete righteousness, other than what we can claim through the blood of Jesus over our lives. But we can bring glory to God and express to Him our gratefulness for what He has done by striving to be all that we can be during this "earth story" portion of our eternal lives. And that hunger and thirsting to be as righteous as we possibly can be will bring us blessing, just as Jesus promised.
Let's commit to a more rigorous training program. We can become stronger...we can run further...we can bear more weight...we can become the spiritual Olympians that God sees in us. This reminds me of the admonition that Paul gives Timothy, and the verse that I will close with, 1 Timothy 4: 7-8, "train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come."
1 comment:
As Christ Followers, we strive for the righteous life. We are "a work in progress". We are All acceptable to God and our sinfulness behavior is what displeases God. If it hadn't been for sin that entered into our lives; then, Christ would not have had to suffer and die to Save us. Even though I have been going to church my whole life and we study the One book, The Bible; we can leave church each Sunday and say, "That was a really good Sermon", always bringing new News to us of God's Glory. We must "press on", and pray for strength to live each day. We need God's Power to provide us with that strength. Our daily lives are a type of battleground and we are "in training" for daily righteousness. We must persevere and fight against sin. Evil lurks and try's to weaken us. Even if not through simple laziness in not studying God's Word. We do Profit from Scripture.
We are given love and strength and the profits are bountiful in our lives. We are given a Great Return for our investment in the Love of God. Our lives are a daily
walk with our Lord, Jesus Christ. Each day we grow closer. He provides for all of our needs. We live today so we can live tomorrow. I love you Lord, Jesus Christ, and I need you each moment of each day.
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