My favorite “Thank You” note I ever received came from my niece Lucy. I had sent her a card with four dollars to celebrate her fourth birthday, and her note was in response to the card I sent. The card was written in my sister’s handwriting, but it was very clear that Lucy had dictated every word. She said, “Thank you for the card and the money. I buyed cars. I had been wanting those cars to race them. I love you and I’m 4.” Upon receiving it, I read her card over and over again. It was so sweet (and funny)! That is the way we respond to letters from people who are dear to us, isn’t it? We savor them, hanging on to every word. Far more precious than any letter that we can receive on this earth is the word of God. You see, it is God’s word given to us out of love to point us to Him and help us live lives that honor Him. Because it is God’s very word, it is reliable. The question is, do we savor it as the gift that it is?
The apostle Paul wrote about the reliability of God’s word to his mentee, Timothy, in 2nd Timothy 3. In this passage of Scripture, he called Timothy to live faithfully, staying true to what he had been taught and what he knew from God’s word. He said, “You must remain faithful to the things you have been taught…You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood…All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip His people to do every good work” (verses 14-17). After giving the call to faithfulness in these verses, Paul explained the purpose behind that call to faithfulness to God’s word. First and foremost, Paul explained that the Bible is “inspired by God.” The word translated as “inspired by God” is translated in other translations, such as the New International Version, as “God-breathed.” The emphasis of this word is that Scripture came directly by the words spoken, or breathed out, by God. They were spoken to chosen followers of God to be written down and ultimately included in Scripture. Because the words in Scripture come directly from God, we must pay attention to every single word found in Scripture, knowing they are God’s direct words to us. Even more, these words are a gift to us. They teach us. They rebuke us when we are doing what is wrong. They prepare us to do “every good work” that God has called us to do. The word of God is a priceless gift to us that we must not take for granted.
When was the last time that you focused on the truth that God’s word is a gift to you? As you think about God’s word, do you delight in it as the gift that it is, or do you see reading it and studying it as a duty or task to cross off your “to-do” list every day? God’s word is a gift. It is reliable because the words found in it come directly from God. Will you treasure every word it contains every single day?
Pick up a notecard or create a blank bookmark, and write the words of 2 Timothy 3:16-17 on it. Use it as a bookmark in your Bible. Let these verses be a reminder to you every time you open your Bible of what a gift God’s word is. Let them remind you to savor His word and treat it as the precious gift to you that it is.
Prayer Prompt: Use this prompt to guide you as you pray.
But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.
6 They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7 always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth. They are men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. 9 But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.
A Final Charge to Timothy
10 You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11 persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
