Today’s Thoughts – 12 January 2021
By T. S. Candee on January 12, 2021 in Second Timothy Thoughts
Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers. Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Now that we have some examples of the lives we should lead (soldier, farmer, athlete, etc.), we must constantly be reminded that we should live in that way. For if we forget, we will most undoubtedly fall into false teaching, listening to words of no profit. We must be careful what and who we listen to. We must line everything up next to the Word of God to see if it stands true.
Use the Word of God as your straight stick – it can be used to find a crooked stick. But we can only do that if we apply ourselves. We must study the Word of God. The word “study” in verse 15 doesn’t just mean to study as you would for a test, but rather it means to be diligent or zealous about it. We must immerse ourselves in the Word of God and be diligent about our Bible reading and our Bible studying. Only then will we be able to find the crooked stick of false teaching.
There is another reason to be diligent about studying the Word of God and it is to be approved of God. We don’t want to be ashamed when we fall into false teaching. We don’t want to be ashamed when we have an opportunity to tell someone about Jesus and can’t because we haven’t studied the Word of God. Instead, we should be diligent and be prepared as an ant prepares for winter.
And finally, we must “rightly divide” the Words that are contained in the Bible. This literally means to “cut straight” as a tentmaker would cut a piece of cloth straight to make the tent, or a farmer plows their field in straight lines, or a carpenter cuts a wood board in a straight line. We too must be diligent about correctly interpreting the Word so that we don’t fall into false teaching and so we don’t cause others to fall into false teaching.
If we aren’t diligent, there is one that is diligent – the devil. And as a roaring lion, he is ready to devour us into “profane and vane babblings” so we won’t accomplish God’s will for our lives (1 Peter 5:8). Let us apply ourselves in the Word of God today, being diligent to be like a soldier, farmer, or athlete so we can be approved of God while rightly dividing the Word of God in our studies.
