Approved Or Ashamed?

Approved Or Ashamed?

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

2 Timothy 2:15

One of the great temptations of the busy believer is to stop studying the Bible. After all, throughout many years of the Christian life, most of us have heard hundreds of sermons, sat through a multitude of Bible classes, listened to countless CDs and tapes, read a library of Christian books, and listened continuously to Christian radio. And this is not to mention the countless Internet Web sites with sermons and Christian information at our fingertips. Modern believers find themselves with so many resources that it becomes easy to spend most of our time reading about the Bible and less and less time actually studying God’s Word itself, systematically and consistently.

Paul admonished young Timothy—and us—at this point, saying, “Be diligent [study] to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” In this single verse, there are four important truths to apply to our own study habits.

THE BELIEVER’S MANDATE

The King James Version translates this command “to be diligent” as the word study. We are to be diligent and zealous about the task of studying God’s Word. Since reference is made later in the verse to “rightly dividing the word of truth,” Paul was challenging all believers to take very seriously their personal study habits. The Bible is a miraculous book in which personal study never ends. Bible study is a lifetime endeavor for the committed believer. It is our assignment, our mandate from God.

THE BELIEVER’S MOTIVATION

What is it that should motivate believers to undertake a lifetime of studying the Scriptures? It is so that when we are presented before the Lord Jesus, we might be “approved” by Him. The discipline of study is a stewardship from God, and believers should be motivated by a passionate longing to please the Lord, to hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21).

THE BELIEVER’S MANNER

What is the manner by which we should go about our task of Bible study? We are to be workers who do “not need to be ashamed.” Study is hard work. Doing word studies is laborious. Getting out our work tools of commentaries, Bible dictionaries, and lexicons is labor intensive. We are reminded that we are to equip ourselves for “the work of ministry,” as Paul mentioned to the Ephesians (4:12). Dedicated believers are to be workers who devote themselves to the wholehearted study of God’s Word.

THE BELIEVER’S MESSAGE

All of this is to be done in order that we might “rightly [divide] the word of truth.” We should approach the Bible with a deep reverence, even a fear that we might mishandle or misrepresent God’s truth. We should take caution against using every paraphrase we might find in order to twist the truth to match our own way of thinking about a matter. We are to be about the business of “rightly dividing the word of truth.” This is a serious assignment. The believer’s message should always be centered in, and issue out of, God’s holy Word.

Think about it: we are God’s workers. We will either be approved or ashamed when we stand before Him. This is our high calling and awesome task: to “be diligent to present [ourselves] approved to God, [workers] who [do] not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

As you memorize this verse, lay aside all the resources and other study aids, and meditate on the Word alone.