2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

This chapter is loaded with stuff I could write on easily, which is a demonstration of the truth of these verses! We take the Bible so lightly. The very fact that it exists in the form that it does is nothing short of miraculous in itself, but many people spend enormous time and energy trying to pick it apart and deny it. As Gamaliel warned the Sanhedrin, they are fighting against God! (Acts 5:39) God is shockingly merciful and faithful. Down through the centuries He spoke to people and caused them to record things, and then by His Spirit He caused other people to make collections of these writings, and the final result was the Bible we hold in our hands today. Translations are another issue. Some are faithful, bringing out the best understanding of the translators, and some are written with an agenda, trying to draw people into a particular cult. Interestingly, though, God can and does use even those translations to draw people to Himself. I know of cases where people were genuinely and gloriously saved through the New World translation used by the Jehovah’s Witnesses – though they immediately left that group after encountering Christ. The biggest issues for “standard Christians” are the tendency to treat the Bible like a good-luck charm, to be kept on the shelf or even on the coffee table but hardly ever opened, and the tendency to “love” various passages without ever actually putting them into practice. And then there are the scholars who genuinely study the Bible, but strictly from an academic viewpoint, not accepting that it is the Word of the living God to them. Rather than just studying the Bible, we need to let it work on us, doing all the things that Paul mentions to Timothy here, so that we will indeed be “prepared for every good work.”

As I mention frequently, I was privileged to grow up in a home environment that was steeped in Scripture. My father got his Masters in Hebrew and his PhD in Biblical Greek, and taught both in Japanese. Translation was deeply understood in our family! I was exposed to the King James Version through various sources, but the Bible my parents got for me after I was baptized at age 7 was the Revised Standard Version. These days I use the New International Version most often, simply because that is what is in the bilingual Bible I use all the time. However, I am constantly comparing it to the Shin­kaiyaku Japanese, and understand that, having neither Hebrew nor Greek fluency, I’ve got to depend on the Holy Spirit who caused it all to be written in the first place. I am privileged to share the Word in various forms, both spoken and written, but must always be humble and not conceited, letting God speak rather than just throwing out my two cents. As someone with Teacher gifting, I tend to feel that just putting the truth out there should be sufficient, but it rarely is. I need to come alongside people and help them live it out, just as I need help in living it our myself.

Father, thank You for this reminder, and thank You for Your Word. Help me be a good steward, a good communicator, both in words and in actions, drawing many to You for their blessing and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!