Are You a BOOKworm?

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God

 as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, 

accurately handling the word of truth.

2 Timothy 2:15

And now, little children, abide in him,  

so that when he appears we may have confidence 

and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.

1 John 2:28

The verse in 2 Timothy was on my mind during the night last night.  I was quoting the KJV of the verse, "Study to show thyself approved..."  I began to sort in my mind what this meant.  Other Bible versions use the words "be diligent" in the place of "study."  Is there a difference? 

Here are my thoughts:

• Diligence implies contemplation, constancy, and yes--study.  In order to know what we are to do in most areas of life, we must study how to do it.  In order to do it well, we must think and be constant, or diligent.  How does a child learn to clean?  He studies (usually with a little prodding) how his mother cleans.  How does a young girl learn to cook?  She studies the methods of her mother.  How does a student learn his lessons well?  He is diligent in study.
• To be approved by God, we must be diligent; we must study what He has to say to us.  There is no other way.
• God wants workers.  We don't learn science or math or grammar, or to clean or cook or sew just for the fun of it.  We learn it in order to be a good worker.  
• Ignoring the call of our teachers makes for a student much ashamed at test time.  Ignoring the call of parents makes for one very unwise and untrained adult, much ashamed of his inability to carry on well in life.  And ignoring the call of God to be diligent in our learning of Him makes for a worker who is ashamed that he is incapable of rightly dividing the word of truth.
• 1 John 2:28 tells us that we are to abide in Christ.  We abide in our house.  We use every part of it.  We are to abide in Christ, to use everything that we know about Him to grow and learn so that we may be confident.  I always loved to go into a test confidently, knowing that there was little that the teacher could ask that I wouldn't know.  The only way I could do that was to "abide in" or live with my studies until I knew the material well.  So we must live with Christ.  The only tests that I ever shrank from were the ones which I had not prepared for.  In the same way, we are to be prepared and not ashamed at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

How do you get a worm out of a book? 

Gloria