The Oxygen Producer of God

UV 4211/10000 The Oxygen Producer of God All scripture is God-breathed ( given by divine inspiration) and is profitable for instruction, for conviction ( of sin), for correction ( of error and restoration to obedience), for training in righteousness ( learning to live in conformity to God’s will, both publicly and privately- behaving honourably with personal integrity and moral courage. 2 Timothy 3 v 16 There are some who are now teaching that one needs to only read the new testament and not the old testament. But this uni-verse clearly states that “ALL Scripture…” All scripture is God-inspired, Holy Spirit-given instruction manual for man to live well and to live forever. When we study or intake scripture in any form, we are breathing in the oxygen of God that encourages, delivers, convicts, saves, transforms, builds or edifies, equips, trains us. This is particularly relevant in the current pandemic in which many people, including some I knew, perished struggling for oxygen. We cannot afford to ignore any part of scripture. It offers models whom we must emulate and negative role models that we should scrupulously avoid. All scripture offers us bread for our souls, meat and milk for our strength, oil for our anointing, medicine for our sicknesses, hope for our present earthly lives as well as for eternity, weapons for warfare and for our defence, armour for our protection, comfort in our distress and times of crisis, guidelines for our choices and decisions, an ethical framework within which to live and act. Jesus also affirmed that He came to fulfill the law and the prophets and not to cancel or abrogate these. He also said that not one word of the law and the prophets will cease to be valid or cease to have relevance or power in our lives. People who ignore the old testament are impoverishing and depriving themselves of benefitting from a vast array of wisdom, moral lessons, amazing promises covering the whole gamut of human experience and need. Only the burden of fulfilling the large number of obligations and laws included in the old testament has been removed. The promises remain to be claimed and enjoyed by us. The precepts that build our character are embedded as much in the old as in the new testaments. Hence, it is error, gross error to believe and teach that the Old Testament is no longer applicable or relevant to us who have entered into the new covenant relationship. That said, our emphasis or priority needs to shift to the teachings of Jesus especially in the four gospels which are likened to the four rivers in Eden under which were found precious metals and stones, a metaphoric reference to the vast blessings stored in the gospels. Many traditions and practices of the Old Testament like circumcision are made obsolete and redundant with the personal relationship we now have with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Triune God.