To Encourage You

2 Timothy 2:15 “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”

Has anyone ever asked you the following question: “So, what has God been teaching you lately?”  If they did ask it, would you have an answer?  I had that question asked of me once in an informal church setting, and it must have made an impression on me, because I remember it to this day, over 20 years later. 

If we are Christians, we are also disciples, i.e., students, of Christ.  Just as the 12 sat daily at the feet of Jesus for three years, we have the privilege of sitting at His feet in prayer and the study of His Word each and every day.  Since Jesus is the greatest teacher that ever lived, we can be assured that if we actually do this, we will be learning things, fresh things, new things, as well as being reminded of things we may have learned earlier but may have neglected of forgotten over time.  We have been commanded to “always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15).  The only way to really be ready for such a situation is to be, day by day, in communion with the great Teacher, for He’s the only one who can make us ready. 

Notice that the verse in 2 Timothy 2 above tells us to “do our best” in becoming a worker who rightly handles the Word of Truth.  Doing our best means that it will be a priority.  It is something we will do diligently, intentionally, with an expenditure of time and effort.  It will mean we get into the Word of God and not just read a few verses each day – to fulfill some sense of obligation – but we study it, meditate on it, pray over it, and seek to really understand what God, in His infinite understanding, is trying to teach us.  If we do this, we will never be caught flat-footed when the opportunity comes for us to tell someone what God’s been teaching us. 

Surely, God wants more than anything to reveal Himself to us. Listen to Jesus’ heart as He spoke the following words concerning Jerusalem: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” (Matthew 23:3).  And Jesus no less wants to gather each and every one of us to Himself, to care for us, teach us, and love us – if we, unlike the people of Jerusalem at the time He spoke these words, are just willing to draw near to Him.  Indeed, we have been given the wonderful promise, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” (James 4:8).”  And then there is the urgent promise “Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare” (Isaiah 55:2).  When the Lord says, “the richest of fare” He means His Word.  This was the heart of Job, who said “I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread” (Job 23:12).  Those words are nothing more than an expression of the love of Christ in the heart of Job.  And it’s this same Christlike love that was expressed in the words of Paul to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2 above. 

May God give us this same heart toward Him and His glorious Word.