Everything we need…
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. —2 Peter 1:3
Her smile flashed as she told me the story. I loved listening to her, her enthusiasm was infectious as she shared about her Savior. She’d realized something was off, a skewed way of seeing things, a subtle disfunction that had the potential to derail her peace and future relationships. So what did she do? Run to friends? Download a dozen podcasts? Check out all the latest self-help books? Wallow in self-pity and blame her past? No.
She dove, headlong, into the Word of God. She pored over the precious Scriptures and allowed them to convict, expose, comfort, and correct. As she communed with God, through His Word, she received everything she needed. Not just the diagnosis, but the diagnosis, prescription, and CURE, all at once.
God’s Word is crazy like that.
See, while most people would agree that the Bible is important, that it’s God’s Word, they might even have great arguments for its inerrancy, etc. etc. The question that seems more critical to ask is this:
Do I believe the Bible is SUFFICIENT?
That is, is the Word of God through the Spirit of God, sufficient for my salvation, sanctification, and everything else in between?
And more importantly, does my life demonstrate that I do indeed believe this?
I have been wowed recently by seeing how very sufficient God’s Word really is. Today we looked at 2 Timothy 3:16 and was struck by these 4 aspects of God’s perfect, powerful Word:
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness…
Notice these 4 areas:
TEACHING
What’s right: God’s Word gives us PROACTIVE instruction. In child-rearing, the default method is to just be passive until a child does something wrong, and then correct. But a wise-woman explained to me, years ago, and it’s far more effective to spend more time TEACHING and training, rather than correcting. Be proactive rather than reactive. Teaching includes giving scenarios and explicit instruction, explaining things, taking every teachable moment during calm times rather than waiting for the error and then lecturing.
Spending time regularly in God’s Word enables your Heavenly Father to do the same with you. If you spend time in the Word regularly, you allow Him to TEACH you, not just correct you. It’s much more pleasant! You will save yourself a lot of heartache if you spend time regularly, proactively allowing the Word to teach you, rather than just going your own way and waiting for God to have to correct you.
REPROOF
What’s not right: God’s Word CONFRONTS us. Inevitably, just like with our children, we will mess up. We’ll get off track. As long as we live on this earth we will fight and battle our flesh. God’s Word is what has the power to EXPOSE our sin. Without God’s Word, let’s face it, we all think we’re doing pretty well. Without God’s Word it is easy to just compare our lives to someone way worse and think we’re ok. We’re masters at deceiving ourselves. Hebrews 4:12 tells us God’s Word is the only thing sharp enough and powerful enough to expose the inner person, the very thoughts and intentions of the heart. This is far more than any human can do. Humans can only look at and deal with outward behavior (judging what is seen), but God’s Word, by His Spirit, can expose what’s unseen, can convict us even of the good things we do for the wrong reason. Without God’s Word, we will never really get to the root of the problem, but will just keep trying to modify our behavior and be stuck in cycles of self-help and manmade religion.
CORRECTION
How to get right: God’s Word shows us the PATH to freedom. Sometimes we can be like the little kid who hears the first part of some instruction, then runs off too hastily to do something without hearing the rest of the command. Similarly, sometimes when God confronts something in our life, we hastily take that bit of information, then try to “fix” it in our own strength. He convicts us of a habit, or an addiction, or a harmful relationship, or whatever it may be, and then we go try to fix the problem our own way. This is exactly what the enemy wants because it will never, ever, ever, lead to freedom. Attempting to find freedom from our flesh BY methods of our flesh will never work.
Seeking to escape sin by our own fleshly efforts will never work because those efforts ARE sin. It’s just replacing one sin with a different sin and patting ourselves on the back for our good work. Only God’s Word can not only expose the error, but also give us exactly the PATH He intends for us to be free. He’s the only one who knows the way to truly be free, so we need to seek His Word to show us the way.
TRAINING IN RIGHTEOUSNESS
How to stay right: God’s Word KEEPS us on that path by retraining our hearts and habits. It’s one thing to repent and turn around, but it’s quite another thing to remain on that new godly trajectory, forming new paths. It takes time to retrain our brains, to create new habits, to let our flesh die and allow the Spirit to grow and strengthen. God’s Word, again—regularly spending time in God’s Word, is what retrains our hearts and habits. Returning to #1, it’s what shows us the good path. It says, “Keep going this way. Keep going. Yes, that’s the way, keep going.” It’s not just one sign-post, it’s a constant companion—the Spirit of God working through the Word of God, to keep us going His way.
Finally, it is absolutely necessary that we allow the Spirit of God to work together with the Word of God. Without the Spirit, the Bible is just words on a page. Without the Word, we are so dangerously subject to our own whims and fancies. The heart is deceptive beyond all things. We are in an age where so many have been swept away by “things of the Spirit” that are absolutely contrary to the Word of God. We need both. We need to test every Spirit, test every “Word from God” — test all things and hold fast to what is good. How do we know if it is good? It will line up with the Word of God. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. His voice doesn’t change. So any new revelations from God will always line up with God’s Word.
Of course, godly community, mentors, spiritual disciplines, all these things are important as well. But the bottom line is: We need the Spirit of God to guide us by the Word of God. His divine POWER (His Spirit) gives us everything we need through the knowledge of Him. His Word helps us know Him, intimately know Him, not just know about Him.
This week, let’s seek Him faithfully by the Spirit, through the Word. For everything we need, He is sufficient.
When something stinks
What is that smell?
The kids and I climbed in the car for church, five minutes late as usual, and the odor was nauseating. What was that? I’d noticed a little smell the days before, but we don’t drive much, so it’d been a few days and it was most definitely worse. What could it be?
I leaned in to buckle Heid’s seatbelt and glanced over her seat into the back of the car.
No. Oh no.
A two-pound package of ground beef, wrapped in paper not plastic, was wedged in the back of the car next to a bag of giveaway toys. I could see blood had oozed out all over the carpet and soaked the bottom of the bag.
No. I wonder how long …
I thought back. I had got it from my parents’ house since they store my beef supply in their garage freezer — so it must have been …
a week. A WEEK this meat had been rotting, blood oozing down between the folded down seats, soaking the bag of toys.
This was three weeks ago — needless to say we’ve been working on it ever since.
I wish my car was the only thing that smelled. Since we’re heralding honesty around here, I had to say my life has smelled a bit as well. I kept noticing it, a little odor here and there. But this last week I found the rancid meat and could finally see how it seeped into everything around.
Pride.
Perhaps that word has lost its punch — we use it a lot. But it’s the only one that will do because it’s the one God uses and it’s the only one that truly accurately describes the rancid meat I too often discover wedged into some corner of my life, making the whole thing smell.
Yesterday I listened as Jeff counseled someone over the phone. He said this,
“We say someone hurt our “feelings” but the truth is that feelings are just feelings, they can’t be hurt. What we really mean is that someone hurt our ego. Egos can be injured … they are all the time.”
Aha. That was it. Like a glance into the backseat, I’d found my meat.
Ego. It makes everything stink. It repulses others, pushes them away, repels God, keeps at arm’s length. And, the kicker:
It taints our thanks.
Consider the proud Pharisee’s prayer in Luke 18:11:
The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
I’ve always read this struck by His pride, of course, but never noticed how he begins his prayer:
With thanks.
The Pharisee actually uses thanksgiving as a cloak for pride. He uses words of gratitude but all he’s really doing is boasting.
True thanksgiving is always the product of humility; counterfeit thanksgiving is always the product of pride.
Pride, like rotten meat oozing everywhere, can taint our thanks and turn it into boasting.
Do you see why God hates pride? Why sin ruins everything. Why egos destroy the work of God. Why self stifles our growth and sabotages the Spirit’s labor in us?
I had smelled it for a few weeks but didn’t know exactly what it was.
Now what? Praise be to God that when we name it and ditch it, God is faithful and just to forgive us. The good news is this — this horrible discovery in the back seat of my life, so to speak, has made me soul mates with the tax collector. Without thought or intention, His prayer has been mine this week:
“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
Have you ever felt that way? Where the tears stream down your face and you bury your head and plead with God, “Have mercy on me, a sinner.”
I hate finding rancid meat but would rather find it and toss it then let stay and continue to stink.
Confession is just like that. See it, pick it up, oozing blood and stinking, toss it out. Spend the next few weeks with the baking soda of God’s Spirit, letting Him deodorize and make us clean and new.
And you know what? This morning I climbed in the car.
It didn’t smell at all.
When we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
That’s what I’m thankful for.
{Revisiting this story just because I love it and need it! Thank you so much for reading.}