A wise old owl lived in an oak.
The more he saw, the less he spoke.
The less he spoke, the more he heard.
Why can’t we be like that wise old bird?
I think there’s something of the above in Paul’s statement to Timothy that the Scriptures make us “wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus,” (2 Timothy 3:15). It’s the “wise for salvation” part that I think is worth a second look because while most people have heard of Jesus, many of them haven’t experienced His deliverance in their lives.
And why is that? I think part of the answer is in the poem. It’s possible to be so busy going here and there, doing this and that (and then reporting it all on social media), that we don’t take time to listen, to look, to think. We’re so caught up in accumulating everything to live with we haven’t considered what it is we’re living for. We haven’t thought about our need for something in our life that is bigger than we are— bigger than our job, our family, our friends, our life, bigger than even death and the grave.
Paul is telling Timothy and us, that if we’re going through the Scriptures (and the Scriptures are going through us), then we become not just wise—but wise for salvation. As we allow Scripture to shape us it produces a temperament that is humble, seeking, and open. We recognize our limitations, our failings, and our mortality. In short, we come to appreciate our need for a savior. Then as we hear about Jesus, we are more than ready to receive the deliverance of God that is “through faith in Christ Jesus.”
We need the Scriptures for many reasons. What Paul would have us to see here is that living within them keeps us grounded in reality and in touch with vital truths about ourselves that keep us connected to Jesus.
A Taste of Grace with Bruce Green 