Ephesians 4:11-14; Timothy 2:15-19
Once we accept Christ as our Savior, when we become part of the Body of Christ, people should notice a difference in us. That difference may not be huge to start out, but as we grow in our relationship with the Lord, it should become more and more noticeable.
Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 2:15 that we should do our best to present ourselves to God as "one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth." That verse hit me powerfully this morning. So much so that I've decided to print this verse out and put it in the front of my Bible so I can read it each morning. (Thank you Paul, for this daily call to action.)
So if being "one approved...rightly handling the word of truth" is our goal, what are some things we can do to get us there? (Remember, our lives are in process.) What does being "one approved" look like realistically in our day-to-day lives? Tami W.
P.S. By the way, we're still on the topic of the Holy Spirit on the Back to the Bible program. The series runs through the 26th, so take a listen.
Powerful verses indeed! I think basically to live as one approved would be a life lived only to please God and with His glory in mind as we go through the day. Sadly many of us live our lives in efforts to please other people and forget about the Lord. Even sadder still, some churches nowadays also just want to please the people. Those approved "rightly handle the Word" - God's Truth should be the most important reality to us as individuals and/or churches!
When I read the Ephesians passage I read back a few verses to verse 4:7, "But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it." For me knowing this truth encourages me to daily stay in His word and in conversation with Him. This gives me the guidance I need to not be "tossed back and forth" and to not be deceived.
Referring to 2 Timothy: Doing my best is very important to me as a representative of Christ. Avoiding the ungodly things, but in doing so backing it up with why I do. Knowing of the resurrection does not make it okay for me to be disobedient and then be forgiven. That is not striving to do my best. "The Lord knows who are His"...and I confess Him as my Lord and will run, flee, away from wickedness into His arms everytime. Thank you Jesus for your grace and love, knowing that I can turn to you for strength and wisdom.
To be approved by GOD,then one must have a good relationship with HIM,that is visible,and that at no time should one be ashamed of whom one is in christ. People should be able to see christ in us at all time.Even Apostle Paul encourage us in romans 12:1 to present our bodies are a living sacrifice,which is our reasonable sacrifice.The grace is available for us at all time,we should always make use of it.
I recently did the Elizabeth George's Bible Study on Ephesians, and I was struck by Ephesians 4:11-12. So many times people believe the "work of the ministry" is pastors' and church staff's jobs. But those verses are telling us that the pastors are to equip "us" to do the work of the ministry. That opened my eyes to that concept, and gave me fuel to figure out what my "work" is! Thanks, Tami for Powered by 4; it is getting me into my Bible again!
Do you realise that no matter where we read in the Bible, the Old or the New Testament what God wants from us never changes? When we read His Inspired Word we are lead to His commandments that love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind and our neighbour as ourselves (paraphrased). When we do this and keep in His Word then all the other Commandments will fall into place but we must truly love Him and be willing to stand up for Him. Believe and Trust Him. Have a blessed weekend.
Learning about the Holy Spirit dwelling in us and all the other eye openers are just great and we are blessed to be part of it. Thanks Dr. Kroll, Tami and the BYYB team.
Ephesians is life blood for Christians in my opinion. When you come into gods kingdom by giving your heart to god it means just that. Give it all to god and never look back. God tells us we are to take on the burdens of the lost souls.We also have to remember that once we give are life to god that's just the beginning and don't give up hope being a christian will be the hardest thing in life you will ever do but the most rewarding this is when the devil will attack you more and more each day if you don't keep God first and keep on your battle Armour the devil will reign. Please don't forget we are sinners saved by the grace of God just because we are saved and give are life to Christ doesn't mean we will never sin again and we cant beat are self up over it this doesn't mean sins okay are life changes yes but not are humanistic traits put in us by God himself I think that's why suicide is high among Christians we beat are self up because we let God down and it hurts yes but God is a loving God and his grace is ares for the taking we just have to pray daily for it I cant say enough about prayer without it we cant be successful Christians period!!!!!
Hey P4 friends this was a good lesson for me I'm going through a lot right now. I need to walk more closely to Jesus to be approved. Be in his word more and hear others comments. Thank you. I think keeping our minds on things that are true, honorable, just, graious, excellence, anything worthy of praise Philippians 4:8 is one good way of being approved. Praise The LORD and have a good day. Janice
Being "one approved. . .rightly handling the word of truth" is one who studies to show themselves approved. We can not handle the word of truth rightly if we don't know it. It starts with reading, studying and meditating on the Word asking The Holy Spirit to guide us and help us to understand the word of God.
Being "one approved" is showing Who you belong to and always being a Child of the King first. No matter what happens, it is how we handle that situation that counts. When we give our lives to Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit indwells us, we are a new creature in Christ. We can talk about the Scriptures with others, but when our walk doesn't reflect our talk, everything we say becomes a lie to those who hear it.
If we want others to hear the Word of God, we have to always be mindful that we don't know who we may be touching with our actions and our words. These things get easier the closer we get to The Father.