2nd Timothy 4:1 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. (NASB) Paul warned Timothy to be ready at all times to defend the truth. This is why we are to study to show ourselves approved (as he also told Timothy). We should study because we believe. If we truly believe that Jesus did so much for us, do we ever consider what we do for Him? If we truly believe, then do we search for some way to do something for Him? If we truly believe in Him, then wouldn’t we want to learn how to better live as He would have us to live? The major way to learn God’s will for us is to study God’s Word to us in the Bible. Some may say they know that God’s law is love and they strive to live in love. Studying the Bible helps us to learn more about God’s law of love. We can say we love our friends, but Jesus said that even the people who don’t know Him do that. Do we love our enemies as Jesus said we should. Loving our enemies does not mean promoting their cause, but does indicate that we can respect their right to believe or be different. Loving our enemies also means we should pray they come to see the Light of the world in Jesus. We should never wish anyone to spend eternity separated from our Creator’s love. Loving our enemies mean we should feed them if they are hungry, because (as the Bible teaches) our compassion should hurt to see them hurt, if it is in hunger, injury, disease, or any other way our enemy may suffer (this is also revealed in Bible study, and Jesus said to feed even our enemies). I cannot say that I understand the full implications of “love for enemies”, but Bible study helps us to grow and better grasp God’s will. This world’s logic says that if you love others, you can expect them to love you in return. Studying the Bible helps you to understand that this is false. Jesus came in perfect love for all people, and see what this world did to Him. Jesus said that if you followed Him, you could expect this world to treat you as it treated Him. In the movie “The Wizard of Oz” the wizard told the tin man that one’s love was not in how many people he loved, but in how many people loved him. This is based on this world’s logic that love is returned. Bible study shows the fallacy of this world’s logic, and this helps to demonstrate how our Creator’s greatest adversary is the ruler of this world. Another major reason for Bible study is to avoid being led astray by false teachers. This is illustrated in the passage above where Paul is teaching Timothy. As no one of us is perfect, then sometimes it is difficult to look deeply into the truth. Also, this world is so full of wars, violence, greed, murders, rapes, etc. that it can really hurt to look at the absolute truth. Yet our Creator wants us to come to Him facing the absolute truth, and humbling ourselves in recognizing that we all have shortcomings that we need forgiveness for. He wants us to find His love for us in His Only Begotten Son Who came and sacrificed Himself for us. But as Paul told Timothy above, people who wanted their ears tickled (KJV- ‘itchy ears’) will want to hear what they want to hear. We all have ‘itchy’ ears. We all want to hear how rosy everything should be. But few want to face absolute truth. This is why so many FALSE teachers can get RICH (in this world’s wealth) by teaching people what they want to hear. If Jesus said that in following Him, we could expect to be treated like Him, then that should tell people not to listen to teachers (or ‘preachers’) who are wealthy in this world, because Jesus didn’t get wealthy in this world. Jesus taught that we should not seek our rewards in this world but save our rewards for eternal life with Him. So if teachers (“preachers”) get wealthy in this world, one could certainly question if they are truly following Jesus’ teaching.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 18:53:35 +0000
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