Hone

Second Timothy 3:16-17 : All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, ¹⁷so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Another way to say "God-breathed" is "inspired by God."  This got me thinking about the word "inspire."

According to the dictionary, inspire  means: to influence, move, or guide by divine or supernatural inspiration ; to exert an animating, enlivening, or exalting influence on; to spur on. It also has meant:: to breathe or blow into or upon and to infuse (as life) by breathing.

So, when we are inspired, it means that life has been breathed into us. Because Scripture is inspired by God, it will also give us life if we partake in it. What happens when we stop being inspired - when we are no longer moved, animated, or breathed into? The exact opposite of the word "inspire" is "expire." Expire means to breathe one's last breath. That is, it means to die. We must be inspired to live.


We should be inspiring each other in our daily walk with Jesus. I believe that God breathed life into the word so that we could receive it and then "breathe" it into other people. The word of God is useful, so we should use it! The Bible is good for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training.Without it we would not be prepared to do the good works God wants us to do.


Whatever is necessary for teaching and training regarding the Lord can be found in Scripture. In addition, when we rebuke and correct our brothers and sisters, both the reason for the exhortation and ways to correct the sin need to be backed up with Scripture. At the same time, we as believers ought to be open to learn, be rebuked, corrected and trained. This is how we become equipped.


Sometimes I think it's easy to use the Bible to point out another person's flaws, but we have to realize that there is a specific way to guide our brothers and sisters in Christ to make Godly decisions.

1. According to 1 Timothy 5:1, you do not harshly criticize believers just because you think they are in the wrong. Exhort older men and women as if they were your parents; be gracious and respectful. Exhort younger men and women as if they were your siblings; be kind and encouraging. Most importantly, make sure that you are pure in your exhortations. By that, I mean, be certain your intentions are good and you do not currently struggle with the same sins. It is never a good thing to be hypocritical. 

2. Jesus tells us how to respond when someone directly wrongs us. In Matthew 18:15-17, He says  ¹⁵"If your brother sins against you,go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. ¹⁶But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.' ¹⁷If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

I believe that the church has a hard time receiving exhortation and correction. It is insulting and offensive for someone else to tell us when we're wrong. "Who do you think you are? You don't know me like that. Don't judge me." (Wow that sounds like it came straight from a Jerry Springer episode.) It has almost become cliche, but it is still so true: IRON SHARPENS IRON.

Be inspired by God's word to live righteously. And be inspired to encourage one another to live righteously as well. The day we stop being inspired is the day we start dying.