“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2nd Tim. 2:15)
Rightly dividing the words of truth, so that we will not be ashamed, so that we can give an account of why we believe what we believe to all that ask us.
Is it how much of the Scriptures you read or how much time you contemplate that which you have read?
I have never been a fan of those read the Bible through in one year programs, while it offers the opportunity to go through the entirety of the Scriptures in that specific amount of time, because of the cares of the world that beset each of us every day, it offers little time to contemplate all that we have read, and when we are commanded to study, that means to contemplate at length.
Reading much every day, at least for me, offers too many opportunities to miss the jewels in the Word of God, those pearls that are scattered throughout the Scriptures.
“Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.” (Matt. 7:6)
Perhaps it is because of my terrible memory, but if I attempt to read more than a few chapters each day, I tend to forget what it is I have read. As I write these letters to you, the verses you read in them are always incomplete, I put on my paper what parts of the verse I can recall and then a set of parentheses, it is my lovely and caring wife’s responsibility to find that verse, the chapter and Book it is in, and then place that here in these letters to you. She is the one in our family with the memory capabilities, and I greatly admire her and give thanks to the Lord for that gift He has bestowed on her.
“For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:” (Romans 12:4)
Studying to show myself approved for me means contemplation of what I can recall of what I have read, and that contemplation must always be in context with all the verses relevant in the Scriptures to the topic. I rightly divide the word of truth the same way that all who have been saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ do, by listening to the Holy Spirit, and by testing the Spirits whenever any context of the topic is studied that does not come from the Word of God, such as from men of God who have come before us who also left their thoughts on paper.
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16)
I write what I have been led to write in these letters to you by the power of the Holy Spirit, I have never been ashamed of one of them, though I always question His choice in choosing me to do so. I am an uneducated man who still battles the flesh every day, quite crude and rude at times, with no problem in speaking the truth to those I meet.
But I am never ashamed.
“So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” (Romans 14:12)
Today is the day we are expected to give an account for the reason of our faith my friends, and we should never wait for someone to ask us to do so, but when they do, if we have studied to show ourselves approved we will have been blessed with the ability to rightly divide the word of truth and we will never be ashamed when they ask of us the reason why we believe what we believe.
My friends, you do not need to fulfill James 3:1 to follow this path, we are all expected to follow it and adhere our lives to it.
“My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.”
We are ambassadors of the Kingdom of heaven, sent with a message, the only message that matters, the only one with eternal consequences.
Stay in His Word every day, whether much or a little, but spend every waking moment contemplating what you have read.
