Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a
worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of
truth.
2 Timothy 2:15
2 Timothy 2:15
I am thankful to have grown up in a student ministry as a teenager where my youth pastor and leaders emphasized and encouraged our spiritual growth with the Word of God as the foundation to our lives. Through Sunday School and our weekly discipleship groups, where daily discipline was essential to the success of our group and personal spiritual growth, we had the opportunity to understand the importance and impact of the Bible in all areas of our lives. It wasn’t just a novelty item to be recognized by a museum as a large part of history or an old book that our grandparents had on their coffee table at home collecting dust. It was to be an active part of our lives.
“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any
double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and
marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” – Hebrews 4:12
I recently read a valuable illustration that explained the effectiveness
and importance of a “daily dose” of exposing our lives to the Word of God. Some
people seem to expect the Bible to hit them like a jolt of adrenaline each time
they read or study it. Although the “jolt” may hit us occasionally, the
benefits of the Word of God act more like vitamins. People who regularly take
vitamins do so because of their long-term benefits, not because every time they
swallow one of the pills, they feel new strength surging through their bodies.
Through a daily habit of consistently taking vitamins because they have been
told that, in the long haul, vitamin supplements are going to have a beneficial
effect on their physical health, resistance to disease, and general well-being.
The same is true of reading the Bible. At times it will have a sudden
and intense impact on us. However, the real value lies in the cumulative
effects that long-term exposure to God’s Word will bring to our lives.
Paul encouraged Timothy as a young servant of the gospel to understand
the urgency and value of correctly handling the Word of God in his ministry to
the early church. Although a long time has passed between Timothy’s ministry
and our necessity for spiritual well-being, we still fall under the same need
to be “approved…as a worker who correctly handles the word of truth”.
When we are fixing a problem to our home or vehicle, we typically look
to hire a repairman or mechanic that is qualified or licensed to get the job
done well.
That same call to excellence shouldn’t change with our handling the Word
of God in our lives whether we are a pastor, missionary, Bible study leader, or
new follower of Jesus Christ. We need the Word of God in our lives to sustain
and lead us daily in our individual ministries the Lord has put in our lives.
May we all – young or old, man or woman – be equipped and ready for
every good work we are called to. Yes, we can brush up on a specific topic for
a sermon or Bible study series, but the essential value we find in the “daily dose”
of God’s Word will pay dividends in our lives and those we are around.
All Scripture is
given by inspiration of God, and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness, that the man
of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. –
2 Timothy 3:16-17
2 Timothy 3:16-17
by Jim Garner
