2 Timothy

Finding Your Voice

Dan

It has been my observation that scripture has more to say about studying and learning than first meets the eye. The classic statement on reading scripture appears in 2 Timothy 2:15; we learn from Paul that we should study scripture and be able to express our thoughts to others who do not understand the truth.

If we invest the time, we will benefit from reading the ancients wisdom.  How does this notion of ‘studying’ emerge in our life? It starts with the occasional emission of pithy observations in our favorite bible study (as we gradually find our voice). We sometimes surprise ourselves with the things that come from our heart. We wonder where they came from. Then God reminds us of the source.

The pithy stuff morphs into decisions about how we are to live our life (scripture gradually seeps into our heart, overrides our earthly thoughts). We could say that acquisition morphs to transformation. Acquiring information leads to a changed (transformed) heart. As a man thinks – a man is. You have heard me say this proverb many times in my essays. Take a minute and review Proverbs 23:7…

All who manage their thoughts and control that noise come out of the mouth will keep his soul from troubles (implied in Psalms 21:23). The righteous man consumes the wisdom of God to satisfy and feed his soul: but the belly of the wicked craves earthly prater (implied in Proverbs 13:25).

Decide to learn. Knowing God’s word helps us to see trouble coming and tiptoe around the landmines of false teachings and philosophies. Knowing God’s word helps us to see goodness when we are staring at it. When a man takes the time to press into the Word, amazing things start to happen. The journey starts when we decide we want to enrich our relationship with God. Success begets success. But, during the growth process it is not uncommon to compare ourselves with others. I suggest you refrain from comparing your learning pace to others.

Learning is an extremely personal process, detailed cookie cutter methods do not usually yield much fruit, we all grow at different paces, with different interests in the variety of topics discussed in scriptures. Proverbs tells us — The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge, for the ears of the wise seek it out (Proverbs 18:15). Decide that now is the time to start. Now is the time to grow. Now is the time to crawl into God’s word.

Identify your initial learning targets.I think it is wise to develop a simple list of things in which you are interested. You probably have a vague idea of things you are interested in, but I suggest you make it more specific; with a list you can monitor your progress. A little success, documented, leads to more success.

Daniel tells us — To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds (Daniel 1:17).

In addition to the list, I suggest you declare a clear ‘why’ I want to know the stuff on the list. Having a clear goal defined will help you know when you have achieved the learning objective. Proverbs tell us — Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or turn from them (Proverbs 4:5).

You might have noted that I did not recommend building a formal, detailed learning plan. While this can be helpful for some efforts, I think in this case the level of effort would not bear much fruit. Planning everything out at the front does not leave much space for spontaneous pursuit of interesting stuff you did not know you wanted to explore. I can say for sure – you are learning goals will shift over time.

I noted in 1 Kings 3:5-10 an interesting exchange between God and Solomon — That night the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream, and God said, “What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!”   Solomon replied, “You showed great and faithful love to your servant my father, David, because he was honest and true and faithful to you. And you have continued to show this great and faithful love to him today by giving him a son to sit on his throne. Now, O Lord my God, you have made me king instead of my father, David, but I am like a little child who does not know his way around. And here I am in the midst of your own chosen people, a nation so great and numerous they cannot be counted! Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between right and wrong. For whom, by himself, is able to govern this great people of yours?” The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for wisdom (NIV).

I think it might be helpful to approach learning with Solomons willing heart. The first two objectives of learning are (1) Decide to learn and (2) Focus on your learning targets. There is more. In the next essay I will continue this line of reasoning. If you are interested, find the essay titled – Infusing the Mind.

I choose Jesus.

1 Timothy 2

Dan

Simple Faith and Plain Truth

2 1-3 The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know. Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation. This is the way our Savior God wants us to live.

4-7 He wants not only us but everyone saved, you know, everyone to get to know the truth we’ve learned: that there’s one God and only one, and one Priest-Mediator between God and us—Jesus, who offered himself in exchange for everyone held captive by sin, to set them all free. Eventually the news is going to get out. This and this only has been my appointed work: getting this news to those who have never heard of God, and explaining how it works by simple faith and plain truth.

8-10 Since prayer is at the bottom of all this, what I want mostly is for men to pray—not shaking angry fists at enemies but raising holy hands to God. And I want women to get in there with the men in humility before God, not primping before a mirror or chasing the latest fashions but doing something beautiful for God and becoming beautiful doing it.

11-15 I don’t let women take over and tell the men what to do. They should study to be quiet and obedient along with everyone else. Adam was made first, then Eve; woman was deceived first—our pioneer in sin!—with Adam right on her heels. On the other hand, her childbearing brought about salvation, reversing Eve. But this salvation only comes to those who continue in faith, love, and holiness, gathering it all into maturity. You can depend on this.

Choose The Right Path

Dan

In a previous universe, I served on a jury for a child molestation case in the Midwest. The accused was a schoolteacher. It was an emotionally demanding thing to sit and listen carefully to the testimony of adult children, experts, and friends of the accused. When we (the jury) wandered off into our room to sit and talk about what we had heard, what we thought, and render a decision, it was amazing to me how many different views of the truth existed within this body of twelve people. In the end we the jury became deadlocked. One person on the jury would not budge off their view that the accused was innocent, the other 11 (including me) felt the accused was guilty. After 2 weeks of deliberation, we told the judge we could not come to an agreement, and that ended my involvement. Read more →

Your World View Matters

Dan

It has been my observation — At some point in our spiritual life, we all develop a world view. Simply stated, our world view is the perspective that defines how we observe and understand things around us. (implied in Exodus 9:16). Our world view sets the assumptions and perceptions we use to evaluate, understand ourselves, and assess our experiences. Our worldview is the blended composite of our church view, social view, family view, friendship choices, historical view, cultural view, personal view, job view, and our personality characteristics (implied in Jeremiah 29:11).

Our worldview influences everything we say and do (Proverbs 19:21). At its core, there are two basic paths for a world view — theistic or nontheistic. For those who know Jesus, the theistic worldview comes from scripture. The Bible presents a clear definition of the one true living God and sets out a powerful set of life principles used by Jesus to shape our life. The nontheistic worldview comes from all things secular. Often it becomes a life that gradually declines to quiet despair. Read more →

Eternal God

Dan

It has been my observation while reading portions of Deuteronomy, the one true living God defined in scripture is eternal, He has no origin. Origin is a word that we apply to things created. When I think of anything that has an origin I’m not thinking about God. He always has been, is, always will be. The “eternal God is my refuge, and underneath are His everlasting arms” (Deuteronomy 33:27 paraphrased).

The idea of no beginning and no ending leads me to the concept of eternal. When I wrap my mind around the notion of an eternal God, I immediately place God in an entirely different class of being (not human, not handmade, no authority above God, not a figment of my imagination). Read more →

Purpose of Scripture

Dan

It has been my observation while browsing Hebrews, the word of God is alive and active to all who are looking for order and guidance in their life. Hebrews 4:12-13 (paraphrased) says — To be sure, we have been aggressively shaped by the Word; for it is sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates deep into our soul and spirit, it seeps through our joints digging deep into our marrow; we have no place to hide, nothing can be tucked away in our thoughts or actions. We stand naked, unable to run or hide, we have been judged. The hidden thoughts and subtle attitudes of our heart have been exposed. Nothing in our life can be hidden from God’s sight (as much as we might like to skulk in the shadows for things we have done). Everything in our life is laid bare before Him so we may give account (NIV). Over the years I have developed the utmost respect for scripture. It is difficult to ignore the Word. You may get fiercely angry at God for calling you out, you may repent, but you will never be indifferent to the message.

I believe that Scripture should have a strong role in our life; we should look to the message for insight and influence, we should look for help to discern right from wrong, we should expect the Word to deliver comfort during times of trouble, define our notions of why we are here, and explain the mysteries of ‘walking with God’.  Paul wrote — All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

The fundamental purpose of scripture is to reveal God’s mind to us. Therefore, the Bible is very profitable for teaching. In Scripture we find comments on theism (existence of God), theos (nature, attributes, decrees and works of God), angels (the good ones and the evil ones), anthropology (nature, attributes, and works of man), soteriology (nature, attributes, decrees, and works of Jesus, plus the new covenant), Ecclesiology (community of believers), eschatology (the last days), and let us not overlook prophecy, history, poetry, wisdom, etc.  However, I want to be extremely clear – scripture is not exhaustive; it does not comment on every element of knowledge known to man. But, when scripture comments; it is absolutely, forever true.

As God reveals himself, he uses the Word for reproof of the foolish and correction of the misguided. The Greek word for reproof is elegcho, which means to convict, refute, or confute (Thayer’s Greek Lexicon). As we read scripture, sometimes we are convicted by the Holy Spirit for a habit or activity that is not in alignment with the manufacture’s Handbook (scripture). If we read scripture with an open heart, the Bible becomes a set of operating principles to focus our thoughts, conduct, and behavior. The Greek word for correction, used in this verse, is epanorthosis. It means restoration to an upright or a right state; correction, and improvement (Thayer’s Greek lexicon). This is the purpose of the new covenant – restoring and adopting us into the bloodline of Abraham (the family of God) through the ransom.

We are changed because of God’s infusion of righteousness directly into our heart. Righteousness, as used by Paul in this verse, comes from the Greek term dikaiosune which can be defined as faith implanted into man producing gradual movement towards conformity with the will of God (Vine’s Greek Dictionary). We are learning to walk with God, implementing his plan. We learn about righteousness from the Word, God changes our heart, we are infused with his plan.

The bottom line – our Bible is the manufacturer’s handbook. Everything we need to know about God, Jesus, man, salvation, how we got here, and where we are going has been documented in the handbook. What do we do with this handbook? Read. Learn. Repent. Yield. Choose. Proceed. Grow. Love.

I choose Jesus.