Holy CPR (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16, 17 ESV)
Paul's statement here about the nature and origin of Scripture, aka the Bible, might be one of the most profound spiritual truths ever penned.
He paints a picture of the Holy Spirit, the very breath of God Almighty, exhaling into human history in written form decades after the Word became flesh and lived lived among us (John 1:14).
As we begin to read Scripture I imagine God the Spirit filling collapsed lungs with spiritual strength, resuscitating me to life . Not that we were dead necessarily but sometimes we feel and even act spiritually unconscious for a period of time and desperately in need of some holy CPR.
His Word gives us what we could never give ourselves - it's truth when I deceive myself, correction when I'm dead wrong, teaching when I just don't get it, and training to do the things I wouldn't have wanted but that He wants for me.
Reading the Bible is not a spiritual discipline for the super holy. It is a dire need for the believer who desires to do more than exist his way through life.
I say this from experience, not in theory alone
Are you dead?
Unconscious?
Overwhelmed?
I have good news for you: the Word of God is alive and powerful (Hebrews 4:12) and available to all of us who feel spiritually out of breath. To ignore it would be like dismissing oxygen as a luxury. Reading the Bible is like coming back up to the surface for air you thought was out of reach.
Paul's statement here about the nature and origin of Scripture, aka the Bible, might be one of the most profound spiritual truths ever penned.
He paints a picture of the Holy Spirit, the very breath of God Almighty, exhaling into human history in written form decades after the Word became flesh and lived lived among us (John 1:14).
As we begin to read Scripture I imagine God the Spirit filling collapsed lungs with spiritual strength, resuscitating me to life . Not that we were dead necessarily but sometimes we feel and even act spiritually unconscious for a period of time and desperately in need of some holy CPR.
His Word gives us what we could never give ourselves - it's truth when I deceive myself, correction when I'm dead wrong, teaching when I just don't get it, and training to do the things I wouldn't have wanted but that He wants for me.
Reading the Bible is not a spiritual discipline for the super holy. It is a dire need for the believer who desires to do more than exist his way through life.
I say this from experience, not in theory alone
Are you dead?
Unconscious?
Overwhelmed?
I have good news for you: the Word of God is alive and powerful (Hebrews 4:12) and available to all of us who feel spiritually out of breath. To ignore it would be like dismissing oxygen as a luxury. Reading the Bible is like coming back up to the surface for air you thought was out of reach.
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