October 24, 2024 -Get Equipped

JEREMIAH 44:24-47:7

2 TIMOTHY 2:22-3:17

PSALM 94:1-23

PROVERBS 26:6-8

One Year Bible Audio & Daily Reading (oneyearbibleonline.com)

2Timothy 2:22 Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 23 Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. 24 And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. 25 Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.

This is a real struggle at times. When I was a young Christian I often found myself getting caught up in "stupid arguments". I had to learn to recognize when a person was being foolish. Studying Proverbs helped me with identifying fools. The first step for me was realizing that I was wasting time when talking to an obstinate fool. But that was not enough or even a good enough reason. Then as I grew in my relationship with Christ, my knowledge and understanding of the Word and became more sensitive to the Spirit of God and the need to be "kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful." I came to understand that there is an even better reason to not be argumentative. There is a better way. We will always have opposition, but those opponents need to be "gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth". They first need to know the hope that they have in God's grace and love. If we are unkind and argumentative and unloving, how can they find that hope? Without showing grace and love we will hinder their ability to "come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will." I am not saying that I am successful in doing this all the time. I fail more than I like but I better understand the need and desire to be obedient to the word and sensitive to the Spirit who has enabled me to be much better now than I was when I was an infant in Christ. I trust that the more that I mature the easier it will become.

2Timothy 3:12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

And the more that I mature I am grateful for the Spirit because the more we walk with Christ the more we will face persecution. The world will continue to become more and more corrupted as the last days are always drawing nearer but we who are in Christ must continue in what we "have learned and have become convinced of". When we first came to Christ as infants, we have learned about the "Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus." That Scripture is what God uses to teach, rebuke, correct and train us in righteousness. It is a key component of our relationship with Christ that helps us to become mature in our faith because through it we are "equipped for every good work." So, servant of God, get equipped by reading, meditating on, and journaling about the world of God that you might be able to "pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart."