March 18
“Sanctify them by Your truth. Your Word is truth,” John 17:17.
What brings people to have faith in Christ Jesus as the Son of God and their only Savior, and what keeps them in the faith? By the grace of God, it is the Word of God, which has been preserved for us in the Holy Scriptures. Christians are brought to and kept in the faith by Biblical truth.
The Bible is God’s Word, and therefore it is the truth. Although the Bible was written by people, God is the real Author of the Bible. God used people to write His Word. God gave them the impulse to write what they wrote. The apostle Peter wrote, “Prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit,” 2 Peter 1:21.
God the Holy Spirit breathed into the men the exact words that they wrote. The apostle Paul wrote to the young preacher Timothy, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God,” 2 Timothy 3:16. All Scripture, all the writings, were inspired, which means God-breathed. The writers were not inspired. They were sinful people to whom God gave the very words that they wrote. To the Corinthian Christians, the apostle Paul wrote, “These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches,” 1 Corinthians 2:13.
This Word of truth recorded in the Bible was given to us for a twofold purpose. God gave us the Scriptures to bring us to faith in Christ Jesus, His Son and our Savior, and He gave us the Scriptures to teach us how to live a Christian life. Paul wrote to Timothy, “From childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus . . . And (it) is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work,” 2 Timothy 3:15-17.
Do you want to know how to live a God-pleasing life? Go to God’s Word, of which the psalmist wrote, “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path,” Psalm 119:105.
What a blessing God has given us in His Word. To receive its blessing for yourself, read and study the Bible, listen to and meditate on it when it is proclaimed, and above all, believe it and live according to it, and share its truths with others.
Jesus prayed, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your Word is truth.” Pray that God would keep you in the truth and bless your efforts to share the truth with others!
“Lord, open Thou my heart to hear,
And through Thy Word to me draw near;
Let me Thy Word e’er pure retain,
Let me Thy child and heir remain.
Thy Word doth deeply move the heart,
Thy Word doth perfect health impart,
Thy Word my soul with joy doth bless,
Thy Word brings peace and happiness.” Amen.