Stay encouraged, and stay in the Word

“Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman who needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” –2 Timothy 2:15

Grace and peace to you.

I am having a tough time with time management lately.  I am earning both an English degree and Bible degree, and, with the demands of school, plus all the other things that one must do to live, let alone thrive, it can be very tough.  But, I only have a few credits left to complete both degrees, so I just have to hang in there.

The thing that bothers me the most is that with all the studying I have to do, it’s sometimes hard for me to remember chapter and verse numbers.  I don’t have problems remembering the verses, because I am an audio learner, so I recite the verses in my head and they stick.  But, sometimes remembering exactly where they are can be a challenge. (I’m sure advancing years has something to do with it.)  It’s time to go back to flash cards for Bible verses.  I used to do that all that time, but I’ve gotten away from it in the last year or so.  It’s time to go back.

The Lord showed me something in the Bible concerning blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which Jesus called an unpardonable sin.  God really cleared this matter up for me. Before last night, I was having great difficulty understanding what He meant by this.  But, last night God pulled the scales from my eyes, and I was amazed by how clear Jesus’ teaching really was on this subject.  I won’t share it with you today, because it is somewhat involved, and I’ve got a lot of school work to do tonight.  But, I will hopefully post something within a week or two.

Sometimes it can be a challenge to stay in the Word the way I should.  It is at those times that I have to remember my priorities.  School is important, especially in this economy.   A university degree can mean better job security, or it can determine which candidate gets the job when all other things are equal.  

But a university degree will not help where it concerns spiritual matters; only the Word can do that.  The Word is food for our soul, as it is the Living Bread sent to us by our Father and Lord.  That means that I must center my priorities around Bible study and Christian growth.  Jesus said that if we pursue the kingdom of heaven first, then all other things will be added onto us.  This doesn’t stop being true after we get saved.

So, if you are an adult who has gone back to school to pursue or finish a degree, do not give up.  It is worth it.  The same applies if you are a young adult high school or college student struggling to stay afloat.  Perhaps you are not in school, but are still struggling to stay in the Word.  You may be a working mom or dad who has to come home and still take care of the family, or a single parent who has to hold down a job (or two) and still take care of the kids.  Perhaps you work so many hours that you feel you are too tired to study the Word, or you feel you just don’t have the time.  

I understand, because I have been in most of these situations myself, so I understand the challenges.  But let us never forget that the things of this world are passing away; we must make provision for the things of the spirit, which are eternal.  We both know that we will make the time for those things that we really want to do or those things that we absolutely have to do.  The solution then, is to make Bible study something that we really want to do, or, better yet, something we feel we have to do.

We can always squeeze in fifteen minutes of Bible study somewhere.  Maybe while we are on the train or bus on the way to work.  Maybe we could finish lunch a few minutes early, so we can give five or ten minutes to the Word.  Or maybe we could purchase an audio bible and listen to it while we are driving to work.  And, if we cut back on (or cut out altogether) watching the family altar, or television, we would definitely have enough time to dedicate to the Word.  The key is to want to do it, and to then ask God to show us how to do it.

The Lord speaks to us through His Word.  To not read His Word is like living in the same house with your father, but never listening to him.  Whenever you want something from him you ask for it, and he gives it to you, but when he wants to say something to you, you ignore him.  That would be cruel.  

Well, it’s the same with God and the Word.  We go to God, our Father, in prayer with our requests, and most of them He grants.  He even gives us things we don’t ask Him for.  But do we ever listen to what He has to say to us?  God has said and done many things over thousands of years.  If it were not for His Word, He would have to repeat everything He has ever said and tell every new Christian about everything He has ever done.  That’s a lot of talking.  He could do it, but I understand why He probably would not want to.

Not everything that you and I have to say is important.  So, if someone misses something we say today, if we feel it is important, we can fill them in tomorrow–or not.  But everything God has to say is important, and we ought not to miss the things that He has already said; they are important to our understanding and to our well-being.  And, because “there is nothing new under the sun,” His Word is also how He speaks to us about things in the present and most importantly, the future.

In the book, 1984, George Orwell wrote, “He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past.”  Do you believe that God controls the past, present, and future?  It’s not difficult to digest this if you understand that He invented time.  The wise man learns from the past, and we would do well to examine the past from a biblical perspective, because it would help us to understand the present.

We can learn a lot from the past, especially if it’s the Lord Jesus telling us about it.  There are a lot of things going on in the world, much of it very unsettling, so we had better find out what God has to say about the future, as much of it concerns us.

A great many people died to pass God’s Word on to us.  Will we let their deaths be in vain? Let’s read it, and hear what the Lord has to say.

Stay encouraged and look up, for your redemption draweth nigh.

The Still Man

Copyright © 2011 Anthony Keeton, The Still Man ®.  All Rights Reserved.