Day 20: What Does the Bible Do For Us?

Today, we talk about some of the “practical” things the Message of the Bible Does for us. Simply put, the Scriptures guide us in the hopeful way of true life.

Psalms 119:114
You are my shelter and my shield;
I put my hope in Your word.

The Bible gives us hope through it’s Master Story.

So far, we have taken an overview of the Message, the Story of Life that the Bible reveals. This story is meant to give us hope. We learn that we were designed and created to be the One True God’s image and likeness in creation; we were created with purpose. We also hear that although we have all rebelled against God’s purposes for us, we can be redeemed—we can be saved and brought back into relationship with Father-God in Christ. 

“Redeem” is a word that we will consider in depth later. For now, know that to “redeem” something is to pay a price for something to claim it for your own. We value things by the price we are willing to pay for them. Father-God was willing to pay the price of the life of His unique son Jesus in order to claim us for His own: we are loved and valued more than we can possibly imagine!!!

Today we come back to the topic of hope that we have discussed earlier when talking about the Master Story. Take a look at our definition of hope, we have added a little more to it:

KEY DEFINITION: HOPE

Hope is the confident expectation that things will turn out well because Father God will be who He promises to be and do what He promises to do. Hope is built on the foundation of the Lord God’s past works, yet always looks to the future completion and perfection of these works.

There are three core virtues—attitudes that work their way out in our actions—that define the lives of those who follow the way of Jesus: Faith, Hope, and Love. These are all interrelated. Hope is the foundation of all three. Consider this:

Colossians 1:5–6
Your faith and love have arisen from the hope laid up for you in heaven, which you have heard about in the message of truth, the Gospel 1:6 that has come to you. {NET}

Take note of the order of these virtues: faith and love are produced as a result of hope. This is a very important idea. We see it in other places in the Scriptures:

Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for,
the proof of what is not seen.

We see the same order here: “faith is the reality of what we hope for…” Which comes first faith or hope? In this verse, hope comes first. Faith is the reality— the essential nature, the substance—of what we hope for. We cannot have faith until we have hope. Faith realizes hope. Faith lives as if what is hoped for is already done.

We find Hope in Christ. We place our faith (confidence and trust) in Him. This gives us the ability to love one another and others as He has loved us. Hope is the starting place. The Master Story revealed in the Bible gives us hope because it tells us we have been created in the purposes of Father-God, we have been saved in Christ and He is moving all things along toward His purposes to set all things right—to mend all that is broken in our world and in us. This basic truth should give us hope. 

What gives you hope? What is your source of hope?

The Bible has been given to guide us for Life.

2 Timothy 3:16–17
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the person dedicated to God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Up to this point, we have been making the case that the Bible shows us The Way to God and The Way of God because it is a Message from Him for us. In 2 Timothy above we hear that the Scriptures are useful for us in four basic ways. These four ways are all related to the following The Way of Truth:

Teaching. Because the Bible reveals God’s wisdom in Christ for us, it is useful for teaching—showing the Right WAY, the True Way of things, revealing the true path of life that leads to life. As you know by now, we believe that Jesus Christ is this WAY.

Reproof. When we stray from this Right Way, the Bible is useful for reproof—pointing out how we have fallen off The WAY, showing us that we are getting “lost” along the way, that we are turning to some alternative “way” that is not in line with God’s truth, goodness, and glory. 

Correction. Once we know that we have strayed away from The True Way, the Bible is useful for correction—telling us how to get back on the path. 

Training. And finally, the Bible is generally useful for training in righteousness or the Right and True Way. In short, the Bible gives us everything that we need to discover who we are and the true path to life that God has revealed to us so that we can know what is glorious and good.

As we hear the Message of the Bible and come to understand the Master Story that it reveals, we will discover that God our Creator and Author of this Master Story has written a part, a role for each of us to play and live out. For all of us, God desires that we live our lives guided by His Truth, His Goodness, and His Glory.

What two major things does the Word of God do for us according to what you have learned today?

What are the four ways the Word of God leads us in The Way?

*You can find a complete list of all the MilktoMeat readings here.