Paul the apostle instructed Timothy to “charge”
the people within the church in Ephesus that they “strive
not about to words to no profit, but to the subverting of the
hearers”,
and he was to focus upon putting them “in
remembrance” of
the four conditions or “ifs” presented by Paul in this chapter -
“if we be dead with him,
we shall also live with him:”,
“If we suffer, we shall also reign with him:”,
if we deny him,
he also will deny us:”
and “If we believe not, yet
he abides faithful”.
In chapter two and verse fifteen of this final letter to Timothy,
Paul exhorts Timothy to “study to
show”
himself “approved unto God”
where we read:
Study to
show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be
ashamed,
rightly
dividing the word of truth.
The verse begins,
“Study to show yourself approved unto God,...” Paul
began with the word, “Study”
which means “to hasten, make haste, exert one's self,
endeavour, give diligence, be earnest, make effort, labor and use
speed” “to show” or “stand beside, near, at hand and
be present” “yourself” both “respectively and
personally” “approved” which refers to being “accepted,
pleasing and tried” “unto God” who is “God the Father,
God the Son and God the Holy Spirit who is the one and only true
God”. Timothy was to give special diligence and speed to exert
himself to be a man who was “accepted, pleasing and tried” by God
Almighty.
The
verse continues, “...a
workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of
truth.”Paul
went on to add, “a workman”
or “laborer, one who does, and perpetrator” “that
needs not to be ashamed”
which is all one Greek word “anepaischyntos”
that means “having no cause to be disgraced, discredited,
dishonored, embarrassed or humiliated”. Paul continued, “rightly
dividing”
which means literally “to cut straight or in straightways” and
refers to “making something smooth, handling aright, to teach the
truth directly and correctly” “the
word”
or “doctrine, teaching, narration, discourse or speech” “of
truth”
which means “what is true in things appertaining to God and the
duties of man which include moral and religious truth”.
While
we meditate upon Paul's exhortation to Timothy, we should take time
to examine our own lives in light of his words. Do we “hasten and
endeavor” to “show”
ourselves “approved unto
God”?
If our lives were examined by others, would they conclude that this
person is a “worker”
who does not need “to be
ashamed”
and they “rightly divide the
word of truth”?
Perhaps we need attention in certain areas of our lives, and it may
be that we have no diligence toward the things of God at all.
Whichever the case, this challenging verse from Paul is one of the
best to commit to our memory, and once we endeavor to do so, let the
ideas within it become so evident within our lives that not only will
we begin to see it manifested, but others will see it also.
Next
time Paul tells Timothy to “shun profane and vain
babblings”, so read ahead, and
we shall join together then.
Until
tomorrow…there is more…
Look
for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From
Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be
Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the
Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com
; http://www.barnesandnobles.com
; download to e-books, and find it locally at
http://www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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