Quiet Time in the Word ~ Four Cornerstones

This is part 2 of our series about spending time in God’s Word.  If you missed the first post, read it here —> Part One.

I’m so glad you’ve come back for part two!  I know that yesterday’s post might have caused you to take an honest look at yourself but I know that doing so will have a profound impact on the time you are able to spend in God’s Word!

Today we are going to talk about what you can expect when you take that step to carve out time and actually spend that time in God’s Word.  I’m sure you have heard over and over that as God’s children, we should read the Bible.  You may have even heard some reasons ~ it’ll bring peace, comfort, hope, etc.  I would like to take this a step further.

What’s the big deal?

It’s difficult to take the Bible lightly or consider it just another book when we truly realize what sets it apart from other books.  There are several views of what the Bible is in today’s postmodern society ~ everything from a God-inspired work to a book of suggestions to simply a book that we can take some and leave the rest as it suits us.  I’m going to take a bold stand and say that if you truly believe the Bible is a God-inspired work, you must believe all of it.  It is either all truth or all fiction.  There really is no in-between.

The Bible itself says clearly in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 NASB:

“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”

This single passage says that ALL Scripture is inspired by, so we can’t take the parts we like and discard the rest.  It can be tough to do so but I challenge you to evaluate your view of what the Bible is.

Let’s get down to the nitty gritty!

Now let’s examine what the Bible is designed by God to do for us as His children.  First, let’s look at the fact that the passage above states “…so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work”.

This simply means that the Bible is enough for everything we are called to do as a child of God in the demands of Godly ministry and righteous living.  It’s enough.  We don’t need sixteen self-help books to help us with a problem.  The Bible is enough.  This isn’t to say that we shouldn’t read other books but the Bible should be the first place we go and the foundation for any decisions that we make.

Next, let’s look at the four cornerstones of what we can expect to encounter or receive when we read the Word ~ teaching, conviction, correction and training.

Teaching ~ First, the Bible teaches us because it causes us to know something or to know how to do something.  It is a full body of knowledge to guide us in life and godliness.

Conviction/Reproof ~ Secondly, the Bible reveals wrong behavior or thinking in our hearts and lives that can then be dealt with through confession and repentence.  Of course, this is a tough pill to swallow!  Maybe you are like me and tend to come across certain Scriptures and think, “Oh! My friend _________ needs to read this!”  But one of the cornerstones of the Bible is to expose our own sin through the conviction of the Holy Spirit as we read the Word.  Once we recognize a sin in our life, we can repent of that sin before God and He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us (1 John 1:9 NASB).  Then, we can move to the next functional cornerstone of the Word.

Correction/Rectify ~ Thirdly, the Bible restores us to the right way back to Godly living.  It serves as a course correction when we get off into sin.  That is EXCITING because God doesn’t leave us floundering trying to find our own way!!

Training ~ Lastly, it is evidence of the goodness of God that He provides positive training through His Word and not just conviction and correction!  How does the Bible train us?  Merriam-Webster describes “training” as directing the growth of (a plant) usually by bending, pruning, and tying; to make prepared.  If any of you are gardners you know that in order for a tomato plant to bear edible fruit, it must be “trained”, i.e. guided in the way it should go which usually means tying it to a stake so that it will grow correctly, bear tomatoes and not grow unruly all over the garden.  In this scenario, we are the tomato plant and the stake is the Word.  It is a stable and firm guide that we can tie our lives to so that we can correctly grow spiritually and bear fruit for God’s glory in our lives.

Speaking of fruit, that is what we will cover in Part 3 of our series, Quiet Time in the Word! See you tomorrow!