I have been spending a lot of time the past 10 days of so reading 2 Timothy. God has really been speaking to me in all sorts of ways through his word in the morning and throughout the day. I’ve been getting challenged by the Holy Spirit that when I’m frustrated at work to just relax and pick up the word. My response to that was,
“Yeah, cause I need to stop my work to read. That’ll go over real well!”
Reluctantly, I’ve submitted to the nudging and have been reading the Bible when I’m frustrated or at a dead end and I can tell you, as cliche as it may sound or be, it has made a great difference in my life. I’m getting more and more convinced that the role of scripture in my life needs to be increase more and more everyday.
I used to always just “do it” in the morning. You know, get it done, mark it off the checklist and move on with the day, hoping that since I read it, it would provide some large band-aid for the problems I would face that day. I never let it marinate. I never let it sink into the deeper places of my heart and mind and soul. I never let it overtake me in a way that would sometime produce change. I just “did it”. You know, read, nodded, and turned the pages as they came and then finished it up after some arbitrary number of pages, chapters, verses, etc. were read.
In terms of 2 Timothy, this is what really got to my heart…something I clearly need to work on. I wanted to share it here because it’s causing change in my life and I want accountability:
2 Timothy 2:14-19 (ESV)
14 Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers.15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.16 But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness,17 and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,18 who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some.19 But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: The Lord knows those who are his, and, Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.
I have a problem with quarreling. I like to pick arguments with people. Politics, sports, anything & everything basically. I can honestly say I’ve never walked away from that feeling good about the relationship I have with that person. I have to admit, I argue to feel good. I take pleasure in “defeating” someone…how stupid. I should take please in the good things of God, loving that person, and lifting them up and building them up with kind words. Instead, I go for the throat, look to humiliate, and then try to finish the person off, hoping to leave them in a heap of garbage….this is the sin inside me. This is what shows me that nothing inside of me is good. Only God is good.
Anywho, if you’ve read this and you remotely know me (in life, twitter, facebook), hold me accountable if you see or hear me cutting people with words like razor blades. I want to change. I want to “present myself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”
Peace.