Get In The Word

The bible tells us in 2 tim 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.  If we truly believe that all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: (2 Timothy 3:16) then we should be in it all the time. Proverbs 3:13 says Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.  Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: (proverbs  2:11).

I often find in discussions with Christians that many have little biblical background.  Yes, they know all of the main verses, but get them very far away from John 3:16 and they have little understanding of scripture.  They know their particular church doctrine and the associated verses, but do not stray away from the safety of just those verses.  If we as Christians are to rightly divide the word of truth, we have to dig into the word of truth; all of it.  We can’t live in Romans and forget Proverbs.  We can’t stick with only Revelations and not include Ezekiel or Daniel.   

I had someone say to me the other day during  an online discussion, “ If I were to take just one quote from....., critique it, and show why it's not true based on the teachings of the Bible, that would take me some time (I'm not a fast type). It would cost me energy and time from my day to do it.”  That response caught me a little off guard, considering we had been having discussions for two days.  You mean to say you are a Christian but you can’t take the time to read and study God’s word, while spending hours chatting online?  Is that the kind of priority we have concerning the word of God?  The Bible says that the first and foremost thing for a believer is to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.  (Deuteronomy 6:5 and many other places)  Are we putting Yahweh first if we can’t even be bothered to study the Word he has given us?

The Bible is our users manual God gave to us so that we know how we ought to live, act, think, and be.  It describes all of the setting we should have in place to function to maximum potential.  In front of me, I have a digital camera that I bought.  It is a complicated piece of equipment.  It came with a fairly thick instruction book.  Sure, I could pick up the camera and play around with it and figure out how it works a bit.  I’m not going to get to it’s maximum potential that way and may very well miss out on taking some awesome pictures just because I don’t know how to fully use all the functions.  Even more so, I would not even know that I don’t know.  The instruction book is there for a reason.  It full explains everything needed to know to operate the camera to its fullest potential and is there as a guide one can refer back to if you have questions. We could even break the camera through ignorance of the instructions.   The bible is the same way in the life of the believer.  We will never reach the full potential God has for us if we ignore his instruction book and even cause ourselves unneeded harm because we haven’t studied.

Proverb 4:13 says Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life.  If instruction in the word is life, we MUST cling to the word.  How are we going to recognize the false teacher or prophet if we don’t know the bible?  We can easily be led astray if we are not grounded in the word.  Study of the word should be a constant desire on our hearts.  I Peter 2:2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:  God’s word is also our defense.  When Jesus was confronted by Satan, what did Jesus do?  He replied, it is written. (Mathew 4).  I implore all of you who say they love the Lord and believe on Jesus, get in the word; study it, know it, live it.  It is life to the flesh and health to the bones (prov 4:22).  It leads to long and peaceful life (prov 3:2)  Do not forsake the word.