Daily Bible Reading: Nehemiah 13, Amos 5, 2 Timothy 2
Do You Know God's Word?
2 Timothy 2:15 says, "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth."
Let's tear this verse apart.
1. Do your best.
Doing your best is not being slothful. If you are endeavoring to do your best with something, you will give it your all. When you do your best on your job you are really being diligent in learning your craft and performing your duties to the best of your ability. Why do we do less when it comes to the Kingdom of God? The Lord asks the same dedication from us. Do your best. He doesn't require more of you than you can do, but what you have the ability to do, that's what he asks.
2. Present yourself to God as one approved.
Sometimes I think we forget that God's eyes are always on us. He is aware of everything single thing we do, of every thought we think, of every intention of our heart. We often are more conscious of what people think of us than of what God thinks of us. If we are consciously presenting ourselves to God every day, everything else will fall into place. Does God approve of what I am doing today? Does God approve of my thoughts today? Does God approve of what my intentions are regarding every facet of my life?
3. A workman who does not need to be ashamed.
If you are given a job and you are not performing it well, you bungle it, make tons of mistakes, how do you feel about your boss coming and checking your work? Or, as a housewife, how to you feel about your husband coming home to a filthy house, children out of control, no food in the house, no dinner started? It doesn't make you feel on top of the world or that you have really done your best that day.
4. Correctly handles the word of truth.
Another version says, "rightly dividing the word of truth." God wants us to know his word, know what it says, precept upon precept.. He wants us to know it well enough that we don't take scripture out of context and make it say something that it doesn't mean, that we don't build a doctrine on one verse; but we study the Word enough to know that it all fits together. I have always been fascinated with how the Word fits together, something like a puzzle. A truth is revealed in the Old Testament through a story, and in the New Testament is further emphasized by a teaching.
We cannot know God's word unless we spend time reading and studying it. Choose a portion of Scripture. Take some time to analyze it. What is it saying to you? Run references and compare other passages that say something similar. If you have a concordance in your Bible that's a good way to look up key words and see how they are used in other places. I especially enjoy looking up words in their original language; Hebrew for the Old Testament and Greek for the New Testament.
I challenge you today. Do you know God's word? God expects you to know it.
Tomorrows Bible Reading - Esther 1, Amos 6, 2 Timothy 3-4
God is good all the time,
Naomi Brinkman
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Wednesday, November 25, 2009
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2 comments:
Psalm 119:105 says that God's Word is a light and a lamp. We stumble through life way to much because we simply are not turning on the light by reading His word. Turn it on and know the Word of God and you will stumble alot less.
Naomi, what a great blog. Sometimes I think I can get so caught up in how much I've READ that I forget to STUDY. What is it saying? How can I apply it? How does it relate to my situation? Where else does it talk about that in the Bible? Thanks for the reminder!
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