Bible League: Living His Word All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.— 2 Timothy 3:16 NIV The Bible is not just an interesting book from ancient times. It is as our verse for today tells us: "God-breathed." In other words, God Himself speaks through the words of the Bible. If you want to know what God thinks about the creation and His relationship to it, if you want to get your life in line with what God thinks about these things, then your ultimate and authoritative resource is the Bible. Our verse for today gives us four specific things the Bible is useful for in this regard. First, the Bible is useful for teaching. If you want to teach the truth about the creation and God's relationship to it, and how people can get into a proper relationship to God through Jesus Christ, then the Bible is where you should first turn. Salvation is found within its pages (1 Timothy 4:16). Second, the Bible is useful for rebuking. To rebuke someone is to reprove or reprimand someone for any sinful things they have said or done. Rebuking should not be confused with condemnation. The goal of a rebuke is the restoration of a person, but the goal of condemnation is destruction. The Bible is the ultimate criterion for determining what is sinful and what is not. Only on its basis can a proper rebuke be made. Third, the Bible is useful for correcting. To rebuke someone is to show them where they have gone wrong in word or deed, but to correct someone is to show them what they should say or do instead. Correction shows the way to restoration and reformation. Correction helps people to get in line with the will and ways of God. As with rebuking, the ultimate basis for proper correction is the Bible. Finally, the Bible is useful for training. In this context, to train someone is to lead them in a more extended and more formal course of teaching. Training goes beyond the sporadic lesson, rebuke, or correction. Full-fledged training based on biblical teaching is helpful in order to live a life in proper relationship to God. It's for good reason that the Bible is the most-read book in the world. It's the God-breathed guide for life itself. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingJob 33, 34 Job 33 -- Elihu Declares God Calls Man to Repentance by Visions and Afflictions NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Job 34 -- Elihu Accuses Job for Charging God with Injustice NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Acts 13:24-52 Acts 13 -- Church Sends Barnabas and Saul on First Missionary Journey; Cyprus; Pisidian Antioch NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion “And why worry about a speck in your friend's eye when you have a log in your own?”Insight Jesus doesn't mean we should ignore wrongdoing, but we should not be so worried about others' sins that we overlook our own. We often rationalize our sins by pointing out the same mistakes in others. Challenge What kinds of specks in others' eyes are the easiest for you to criticize? Remember your own “logs” when you feel like criticizing, and you may find that you have less to say. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Job 13:23 How many are mine iniquities and sins?Have you ever really weighed and considered how great the sin of God's people is? Think how heinous is your own transgression, and you will find that not only does a sin here and there tower up like an alp, but that your iniquities are heaped upon each other, as in the old fable of the giants who piled Pelion upon Ossa, mountain upon mountain. What an aggregate of sin there is in the life of one of the most sanctified of God's children! Attempt to multiply this, the sin of one only, by the multitude of the redeemed, "a number which no man can number," and you will have some conception of the great mass of the guilt of the people for whom Jesus shed his blood. But we arrive at a more adequate idea of the magnitude of sin by the greatness of the remedy provided. It is the blood of Jesus Christ, God's only and well-beloved Son. God's Son! Angels cast their crowns before him! All the choral symphonies of heaven surround his glorious throne. "God over all, blessed forever. Amen." And yet he takes upon himself the form of a servant, and is scourged and pierced, bruised and torn, and at last slain; since nothing but the blood of the incarnate Son of God could make atonement for our offences. No human mind can adequately estimate the infinite value of the divine sacrifice, for great as is the sin of God's people, the atonement which takes it away is immeasurably greater. Therefore, the believer, even when sin rolls like a black flood, and the remembrance of the past is bitter, can yet stand before the blazing throne of the great and holy God, and cry, "Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died; yea rather, that hath risen again." While the recollection of his sin fills him with shame and sorrow, he at the same time makes it a foil to show the brightness of mercy--guilt is the dark night in which the fair star of divine love shines with serene splendour. Daily Light on the Daily Path Psalm 26:3 For Your lovingkindness is before my eyes, And I have walked in Your truth.Psalm 145:8 The LORD is gracious and merciful; Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness. Matthew 5:45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. Ephesians 5:1,2 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; • and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. Ephesians 4:32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. 1 Peter 1:22 Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, 2 Corinthians 5:14 For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; Luke 6:35,36 "But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. • "Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. 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