“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching the truth, rebuking error, correcting faults, and giving instruction for right living, … I solemnly urge you to preach the message, to insist upon proclaiming it (whether the time is right or not), to convince, reproach, and encourage, as you teach with all patience.” 2 Timothy 3:16 & 4:1-2, GNT

 

Those of you who have read my Verse-a-day meditations in the past, will know that I have great appreciation for the work of Father Frans Claerhout. I am the fortunate owner of a calendar with 14 prints of paintings that he made for the Bible Society in 1994. The originals can be seen at Bible House in Bloemfontein. All these paintings depict something about the Word of God. When we read the Bible, we will find many references to the word or Word and it will take a lot more than one month’s meditations to cover all these references. This, here, is my personal selection, some were inspired by the paintings and others were chosen because they spoke to me personally.

 

In our verse for today, we read that all Scripture is inspired by God. When Paul wrote this he was talking about the Old Testament. The New Testament did not exist in 62-63 AD when this letter to Timothy was written. Even Mark, the oldest of the Gospels, was only written in about 65 AD and Revelation as late as 90 AD. That does not mean the New Testament was not inspired by God. The Church, through many years, sought the guidance of the Holy Spirit before the canon of the New Testament was finalised. When we talk about inspiration it does not mean that God literally dictated every single word, but that he made sure that everything that was necessary for our salvation was written down. This month we are going to look at these “inspired” words and also to try and see what God wants us to do.

 

In Acts 6:7, we read that the word of God continued to spread and that the church grew day by day. In 2 Timothy 4:2, we read that the word must still be proclaimed, sometimes to convince and at other times to reproach or encourage. This job of proclaiming the word is now yours and mine.

 

Prayer: Our Father, please help us to open our ears and our hearts very wide to hear your word. Amen