Notice on a slight format change:

Except for July 2012, these are mostly a collection of current devotional notes.

July 2012 is a re-write of old quiet times. My second child was born Nov 11, 1987 with multiple birth defects. I've been re-reading my QT notes from that time in my life, and have included them here. They cover the time before the birth and the few years immediately after the birth. They are tagged "historical." I added new insights and labeled them: ((TODAY, dd mmm yy)).

Friday, June 7, 2024

QT 6/7/2024 2 Tim 4:1-5, A lifelong learner of God's word

2 Timothy 4:1–5 (ESV) — 1 I 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, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

 

NOTE: I like the exhortation of verse 2, "preach the word; be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching." The first part tells me that I have to continue in the word -- reading it, studying it, memorizing it, and meditating on it -- so that I am ready "in season and out of season." I teach certain passages at different times and years. For the last year, I have been teaching the book of Ezekiel, and am almost finished. But I may encounter situations, as I often do, where someone will ask me a question about a different passage than what I am working on right now. As long as I continue in the word daily, there is a good chance I will remember something God taught me in regards to another passage. The second part reminds me that in my exhortation to others regarding the application of God's word, I must be gentle "complete patience" and logical "[complete] teaching." I cannot be harsh or mean or strident. Fortunately, that is not me. I don't need to get emotional, in the sense that someone must believe me. I just want to make sure they understand what I am saying (and I understand them).

 

PONDER:

  1. Do I have a lifetime goal to master the entire bible?
  2. How much of the bible do I know, and what will take to get to know it?

 

PRAYER: Father, I know this is a lifetime task, but most people spend very little time at it. Somehow, by volunteering to be a teacher, I became a person who studies the bible regularly. Years later, that seems to be the best decision of my life. Continue to use me for your purpose.

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