Complete

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Second Timothy 3:16-17 says, “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 perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” 

     I was talking to our daughter as we were driving along to the Veteran’s Hospital the other day about when you stop getting tempted to do anything.  She replied, “When you are dead.”  She’s right.  No matter how many years you have in your life, you can still be tempted while  you are alive.  When you stop being tempted, you are dead.  I am 84 years old and still being tempted in one thing or another.

     The above passage is used a lot as it speaks about the inspiration of the Scriptures and how they are “God breathed.”  It  is the only time that the word is used in the New Testament and we find the four different ways that the Word of God is used in the life of every believer.  TheWord of God is good for doctrine, for reproof, for correction and for instruction in righteousness.  The word ford perfect is also used only one time in the New Testament and it is here obviously.  It has the meaning of being “complete.”  When we look at the above four ways, we see that the life of the believer is forever filled with the accomplishment of getting the Word of God into the life of the believer, not only in knowledge, but also in practice.  The end result would be perfection, if we were ever to finish it while on earth in our present bodies but there would always be something new to learn about God and then to apply it into our lives.  There are many courses available in bookstores today about how to study God’s Word.  One of the more popular courses deals with observation, what does it say, interpretation, what does it mean, and application, how do I apply it to my life or what does it mean to me.  We are good at observation and all of the rules for finding out what it is saying and the background and meaning of the words and we are pretty good at interpretation.  The problem comes in the final area where we begin, or should begin to apply it to our lives.  I have taught the book of Ephesians a number of times and often declare that one could spend their whole life in the book just dealing with the thirty-nine imperatives in the last three chapters or even the five walks that are mentioned, or the putting on of the armor for the spiritual warfare in which we are all involved.  This would mean a lifetime of being kind to one another and to always have an attitude of forgiveness.  This is only one book and there are another 65 books in which God is speaking to us with lessons for our lives.  Bible study is a lifetime work and is not just to be done a couple of hours a day.  Once you learn what it is saying, then you have to put it into your life.  Praise God today for His Word and the fact that it will make you complete,...one day!