October 19, 2025 Text: 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
Dear Friends in Christ,
When was the last time you had the breath knocked out of you or had your breath taken away? Other than the first time I saw Toni, it would be when I was younger, usually playing sports. The worst was my freshman year of football. We were scrimmaging the sophomores. As a running back I came out of the backfield for a drag pass across the middle. I was concentrating on the pass when the middle linebacker knocked me into next week. I lost my breath, for a moment I had no idea where I was. In today’s world there would probably be a concussion evaluation before returning to practice. Back then it was probably a few plays off and back in there. It is a little scary, in those few seconds, when you cannot breathe.
Sin can do the same thing to us. We can have the wind knocked right out of us when we suffer the consequences of poor choices or when we get blindsided by a problem. Like me on the turf at Argenta-Oreana High school staring into space, you might lay in bed staring at the ceiling and wondering how you ever got into this situation. Sometimes we gasp for air. We need help. The Lord provides it.
“THE GOD-BREATHED SCRIPTURES BREATHE LIFE INTO SINNERS”
Throughout the Scriptures we see time and time again where sin has knocked the breath out of God’s people. Adam and Eve had God breathe life into them. Because of this creation air they were able to love and serve God perfectly. But then they threw it all away when they disobeyed their Creator. They were left gasping for air as they ran away from God. They were unable to love God or each other. In Ezekiel 37 the people of Israel are like a valley of dry bones. They are cut off and breathless because of their sinful ways and they have to live with their bad decisions. In the book of John, the disciples abandoned Jesus after he goes to the cross. They fled in fear to the upper room. They are paralyzed and breathless as they convene together on the night of Easter.
God can breathe new life into sinners. In these biblical examples God came with His divine CPR. He breathed new life back into Adam and Eve when He promised a Savior who would crush the serpent’s head. The people of Israel had new life breathed into them when He made them a promise through Ezekiel’s vision. The disciples had life pumped back into their lungs when the Savior came with His peace and breathed on them the Holy Spirit.
When Paul tells us in today’s text that the Bible is all God-breathed, he is reminding us that this same divine CPR is ours as well. When He breathes his last on the cross, it looks like how we sometimes feel. Where is the hope? But with resurrection breath, “He has risen, He is not here.” We are dead and without breath in our trespasses, but God made us alive with Christ through the Gospel. When we read the Bible, when we hear God’s Word, when the Holy Spirit works meditation into our bodies through the Book of life, we are resurrected and resuscitated. We are given new life.
The God-breathed Scriptures equip us to serve God and one another in love. The breath of God works. Adam and Eve stopped hiding from God. The people of Israel began to serve God and even their Babylonian captors in love. The disciples were given their assignment to be witnesses for Jesus. They were empowered to forgive sins.
We can do the same. The breath of God has restored each of us. We can stop hiding in our shame. We can love others, even our enemies. We can witness to the love of Christ. Through the Office of the Keys, we can forgive others because Christ first forgave us.
The Scriptures teach us. The Scriptures reprove and call us to repentance. The Scriptures correct us. The Scriptures train us in righteousness.
These words of Paul encouraged Timothy. Continuing in the Lord’s Scriptures, Timothy would have a ministry that made a difference. We have the same spiritual lift today. There are those out there spouting their different teachings. There are those out there giving the itching hears the scratch they think they need in life. We need to be aware of all of this. Our best defense is knowing the God-breathed Word of God. It is truthful and reliable. It is the breath of God for us. It can breathe new life into us . . . breathe with me . . . now we can be the people the Lord wants us to be.
Amen.