“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and WHO CORRECTLY HANDLES THE WORD OF TRUTH.” (2 Tim. 2:15)
[‘Correctly’ comes from the word orthotomeō: to make a straight cut, that is, to dissect, to rightly divide. When we present the gospel, we must remember we are handling THE WORD OF GOD! So, we must honor the Word of God, respect the Word of God and most importantly pray over the Word of God, pray that Our Abba Father will reveal the Word to us, so we may reveal it to others!]
“Avoid godless chatter, because THOSE WHO INDULGE IN IT WILL BECOME MORE AND MORE UNGODLY. Their teaching will spread like gangrene…” (2 Tim. 2:16-17)
[Avoid all empty (vain, useless, idle) talk. We can turn the radio or television on today and witness plenty empty and useless talk, people may say whatever they want with no accountability and lead many astray, but we must “speak the truth in love” Eph. 4:15 so that we will:]
“…no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and BLOWN HERE AND THERE BY EVERY WIND OF TEACHING…” (Eph. 4:14)
[That is, that we may be no longer children in our knowledge who are weak in the faith, and changing in our judgments, yielding easily to every temptation, readily complying with the many ‘untruths’ going around!]
“Instead, SPEAKING THE TRUTH IN LOVE, we will grow to become IN EVERY RESPECT the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, GROWS AND BUILDS ITSELF UP IN LOVE, AS EACH PART DOES ITS WORK.” (Eph. 4:15-16)
[There are two ways to understand this: One, that all the members of the church may attain a greater portion of love FOR Christ and TO one another; or know that mutual love among Christians is a great motivator for spiritual growth: it is in love that the body edifies itself; whereas a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand.]
“…I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and WILL BE IN YOU.” (John 14:16-17)
WE MUST SPEAK THE TRUTH IN LOVE, SO WE WILL GROW TO BECOME MATURE…
-Bill Stockham