Passage of Scripture (KJV): 2 Timothy 2:15
2 Timothy 2:15: Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Challenge:
Everyday we spend most of our time working (if we work for a living), studying for school (if we are a full-time student), and sleeping. The rest of our daily time are spent to our own self, whether it is resting, working out, watching television, or hanging out with friends. We spend very little time (or no time at all) praying to God, reading the Bible, or even studying the WORD of God. Occasionally, we read and/or study the Bible but we spend more time studying other things (such as those related to school activities, curricular activities, hobbies, business, or self-improvement) than studying the WORD. The biggest question we need to ask our self is, WHY? Do we ever wonder why? I do, but what about you? We ought to seek for an answer.
To some of us, yes, we find time to study the WORD of God: Some study too deep; some not deep enough; some not to deep; some just to know enough; some take formal schooling to study; some do self-study; but some simply listen to a preacher without doing their own studies of what is being preached, not realizing that not every preacher is preaching the right doctrine.
As an example, in one occasion, I confronted a preacher a couple of weeks after he preached (one Sunday morning) a doctrinal heresy that "a saved person will be left behind when the rapture comes, simply because that person is not a member of a local church." The preacher even used (as an analogy) the story of Noah, his family, their wives, and the ark explaining that the ark is like a local church in which eight people entered and were saved, equating it to the Rapture theology. This kind of interpretation has no sense at all. There is no verse in the Holy Bible that could justify the validity of this distorted doctrine of Biblical theology. Other Christians (some of them preachers) I consulted with to validate my stand on the topic had raised eyebrows out of shock as they could not believe such a heretical interpretation of the clear doctrines of Salvation and Rapture. The pulpit should not be used to spread heresy, lest the church wouldn’t grow. For anyone who is simply a hearer of the WORD, and does not spend time to study – that person could easily be fooled by a wrong interpretation of God’s doctrine.
Let’s keep in mind that God’s doctrine of Salvation is based on His unconditional redemption of our sin, through His Son Jesus Christ. It is also based on God’s unconditional Salvation to those who believes and accepts His Son Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. This was indeed very clearly explained in the Scripture. While on the cross, Jesus did not tell the criminal (or malefactor) next to him, who said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom (Luke 23:42), to join the local church first before he can get saved. Instead, Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise. (Luke 23:43) – plain and simple, no condition of any form.
The Bible says in 2 Timothy 3:16 that, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:” This clearly means that the interpretation of the WORD of God must be handled very delicately, lest we make a fool of our own self and commit sin to God when out of ignorance we preach the wrong message. Let us always remember Psalms 12:6, which says, “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.”
Based on our Passage of Scripture (i.e., 2 Timothy 2:15) – we need to show our self approved to God without being ashamed. Thus, we really need to study the WORD, especially if we want to preach. Once we have studied the WORD and understood the TRUTH, then we can APPLY it to our life, and then we can PREACH the WORD.
