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The Breath of God

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One Sunday morning, while sitting next to her first grade daughter in church, a mom noticed her daughter was looking intently at the open Bible in her lap. In a low whisper, she asked, "Did God really write that?" the mom quietly whispered back, "Yes, He did." Looking down at her mother's Bible again, the little girl said in amazement, "Wow! He really has neat handwriting!"

Do you have neat handwriting? 'They' say that neat handwriting is a sign of a neatly ordered life...which means that I'm in a boatload of trouble. My handwriting looks like the attempts of a dizzy two year old with a dull crayon. I'm not kidding - there are doctors who laugh at my handwriting. So if what 'they' say is true, my life must be sloppily ordered.

And, well, it is. Which is OK as long as it doesn't hurt others...which sometimes it does. The sloppiness gets ugly sloppy when it's brought on by sin (i.e. disobeying God).

Perhaps that is true with you as well? No matter what your handwriting looks like, when you let sin creep into your life, it will eventually scribble shame and sadness all over the scene of your life and the lives of others.

Which is why I'm so glad God has neat handwriting. He wrote this book called The Bible (actually it's a collection of 66 books-more on that later), and the 'neatness' goes way beyond the look of the letters to the source of the words. The source of the words of the Bible is none other than God Himself:

All Scripture is inspired by God... (2 Timothy 3:16).

The word 'inspired' literally means "God breathed," and the word picture is one of God breathing the very words into the minds and through the pens of the authors. Some folks like to think that God just 'inspired' the ideas or concepts in the Bible. I am not one of them. Sure, he used the different styles and personalities of the writers, but the end result is God's word, word for word.

But Lane, couldn't anyone write a book and put in something like "in case you're wondering, God wrote this..."-so why do I believe that only the Bible is God breathed and not the Koran, the Book of Mormon, or any other "God told me this stuff" book? Simple...because the proof is in the pages. No other work is a collection of 66 books written by 40 completely different authors living on three continents over a period of 1500 years and contains no errors or contradictions. And as if that weren't evidence enough, all 66 books containing 774,746 words all tie into one overarching theme: salvation through Jesus Christ.

Speaking of Jesus Christ, the Bible contains over 300 prophecies about Him which were written hundreds of years before He was born and were all literally and completely fulfilled in His lifetime.

Like I said...the proof is in the pages...and because it is, I need to let those God breathed words breathe back into my sloppy life:

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right. It is God's way of preparing us in every way, fully equipped for every good thing God wants us to do. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

What Paul is saying here is-don't let God's breath go to waste. The Bible was written by the true God, which means His words are truth, and they are truly the only way to 'desloppify' our sin-stained lives. Breathing in the breath of God is an exercise in letting Christ bring order into my chaos and setting me on the path that will bring me the most amazing joy and fulfillment possible.

I think that's pretty neat...don't you?

Head: What you need to know about this truth

The Bible is a collection of 66 'God breathed' books and as such is God's word, word for word.

Heart: What you need to feel about this truth

It is said that some years ago a vessel sailing on the northern coast of the South American continent was observed to make signals of distress. When hailed by another vessel, they reported themselves as "Dying for water!"

"Dip it up then," was the response. "You are in the mouth of the Amazon river."

There was fresh water all around them, and they had nothing to do but to dip it up, and yet they were dying of thirst because they thought themselves surrounded by sea water.

The Bible is the only source of truth you'll ever have or need, knowing this should make you feel incredibly privileged and incredibly responsible to not only quench your thirst for truth, but the thirst of a dying world!

Hands: What you need to do about this truth

Someone once said: An unread Bible is like food uneaten, a love letter never read, a buried sword, a road map unstudied, gold never mined. Instead of thinking "I guess I'll go read my Bible now...", think of it as an opportunity to share in a banquet, read a love letter, engage in weapons training, find your way out, and discover a wealth in the gold mine that is your Bible! Click here for an effective way to study the breath of God.