The Word Is Our FoundationSample

## The Bible: Introduces Us to Salvation We live in a world made by God but devastated by sin. We live with fractured identities, longing for significance – yet estranged from the very God who we are created to know and love. That’s the picture the Bible paints and the reality that we experience. But in God’s Word, we hear a deeper story, a truth that reaches into our brokenness and disarms our pride. The story of a God who saves. Time and time again, we read about individuals and communities that are desperate and in need of rescue. Think of Abraham and his experience with Pharaoh and Abimelech; or Lot, who was captured and kidnapped; Joseph got sold into slavery; later, the whole nation of Israel was enslaved by Egypt; the book of Judges is all about the recurring invasion and oppression of God’s people; David is pursued for more than a decade by his father-in-law King Saul. Those are just a few examples, but we see consistently through Scripture that salvation is right at the heart of everything God does. God protects Abraham, rescues Lot, uses Joseph, and rescues the whole nation in the Exodus. God raises up judges who deliver His people time and again, and God uses other great leaders to lead and save His people from all kinds of threats. And that brings us to Jesus himself. Jesus went out of his way to meet the very people who we might think would be the least worthy of saving. In fact, he summed up his whole life mission as coming “to seek and save the lost” (Luke 19.10). He told parables of the ‘Prodigal,’ ‘The Lost Sheep,’ and ‘The Lost Coin,’ all explaining how much God cares about saving the one. For every believer, the Bible is vital to God’s salvation plan. God’s Map for Salvation In one of the letters that the Apostle Paul wrote to his trainee Timothy, he explains the importance of the Bible when it comes to God’s way of saving people. He describes Scripture as being able to make us “wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ”. What he’s saying is that God’s Word is foundational for bringing us back into a relationship with our Creator. The Bible wakes us up to how helpless we are to save ourselves; it reminds us that eternity is at stake and introduces us to Jesus, the only one who can truly save us. The more we let God’s Word shape us, the stronger our relationship with God becomes, built on this foundation of salvation by faith. That’s why Paul goes on to encourage Timothy to use God’s Word often in preaching and mentoring others. Paul says that the Bible tells us everything we need to know. God uses it to expose our needs; His Word reminds us what God has already done to save us. The Bible keeps our hearts and minds fixed on Jesus, our Lord, and Saviour . In the Bible, we find an honest picture of what’s really wrong in our world, and in our own hearts, we meet the One who laid down His own life to save us, and we receive a whole new life by faith. #### Reflection Questions: 1. What does the Bible say is my biggest problem that needs fixing? 2. How much do I value what God has done to save me? 3. How thankful am I for the Bible, where I discover Jesus and learn to trust him?