As we continue in our inductive study of 2nd Timothy 3 let me suggest another application. Let God’s Word be an active change agent in your life.
Both Timothy’s mother and grandmother were great role models, especially in regard to the importance of God’s Word as a change agent in their lives. They had taught Timothy the Old Testament since his infancy. When Paul visited Lystra and proclaimed the gospel there Timothy was ready to respond – God’s Word was a change agent in his life. It made him wise unto salvation.
Now Paul points out in verses 16-17 that “all Scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” In other words, it is a living book with power to transform anyone into an equipped servant of God.
You can learn from it, be rebuked by it when you do something wrong, be corrected when you are going in the wrong direction or have erroneous ideas about what is true. You can also be trained in righteousness so that you think right and behave righteously even as Christ did.
The Bible will be a lamp to your feet so you can discern the next step you should take, and a light to your path so you can see down the road a piece concerning God’s will for your life. It will help you to understand what God is doing with you in His workshop, creatively shaping you to do good works, which He prepared in advance for you to do (Ephesians 2:10).
Let God’s Word be an active change agent in your life.
