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Daily Devotion: The Word Revealed - Reading God's Letter of Love Believingly and Obediently - 2 Tim 3:16-17

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Read the Word Believingly

As we read the Word of God, if we do not believe that it is divinely inspired, if we do not believe that it is the true Word of God Himself, then it will profit little.  If you do not believe that God loved you enough to have a relationship with you through His Spirit and His Word, then the love letter we call the Bible will fall flat.  This applies to reading the Word, but as well it applies to hearing the Word read, taught, or preached.

A passage that calls us to a personal devotional reading of God’s Word is 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,  that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”  This passage tells us in very clear language that what we have in our hands is THE WORD OF GOD and that it will reveal what we need to know of God, His will, His love, and what we need to know about ourselves and how to live a life of loving God.  The Bible is its own greatest witness to being divinely inspired.  Again, and again God’s Word says that it came from God Himself.  Leviticus 1:1-2a, “Now the Lord called to Moses, and spoke to him from the tabernacle of meeting, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them. . .”  Numbers 1:1, “Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying. . .”  When the Lord called Jeremiah into prophetic service, scripture tells us, Jeremiah 1:4, “Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying…”.  In the New Testament there are numerous passages concerning Who inspired the Bible, but again Second Timothy is the most clear and memorable, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God.”

Read the Word Obediently
If you read the Word believingly, then the logical consequence is that you would read the Word with a dedicated desire to be obedient to all of what is revealed.  You would love the doctrinal truth of God’s Word, but you would not read God’s Word to only find out doctrinal truth without a corresponding desire to apply that truth to your life obediently.  The Bible is THE final authority of faith and practice.  The parable of the Good Samaritan reveals life changing truth that is to rule our lives.  In this parable God shows us how to apply the second great commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves.  Jesus concluded this life changing parable in a way that shocked his hearers, “Go, and do likewise.” (Luke 10:37b) The Apostles surely thought: “Wait Jesus, that was a nice story, but you want us to really love a Samaritan as we would a faithful Jew?”  When we learn of God’s love, and we are obedient to the call to love others, we are to obediently “Go and do likewise.”

An important part of growing in our love relationship with God is growing in how we love other people.  Loving God in a vibrant fashion always overflows into every other relationship that we have.  Trust God’s amazing, enabling grace and love obediently as you read, understand, and apply His Word to your life.

Conclusion
God calls us to read His Holy Word, this Letter of Love: Regularly, Prayerfully, Thoughtfully, Believingly, and Obediently.  Five important, and, I pray, profound, commands concerning our reading of God’s Word.  You will experience growth in your love relationship with God when you apply these five Bible reading essentials.  When we approach God’s Word Regularly, Prayerfully, Thoughtfully, Believingly, and Obediently, there is no disconnect between our modern world and the world of Biblical times.  When we approach God’s Word Regularly, Prayerfully, Thoughtfully, Believingly, and Obediently, God speaks with power and clarity concerning how we in our modern world are to love Him who is eternal and has saved us.

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