How to Sturdy Yourself

For Sunday School, April 28, 2024 - we discussed "doctrine" and what it means to sturdy yourself. There is a difference between studying the bible, and sturdying yourself with it. When you study the bible, you read it, you learn facts, locations, times... but when you sturdy yourself with it, you take to heart the message that is being presented. You understand what the moral of the story is, and you live your life by it.

What is the bible good for?

As 2 Timothy, 3:16-17 says: All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.

Doctrine - The bible teaches us what IS right.

Reproof: The bible teaches us what is NOT right.

Correction: The bible teaches us how to GET right.

Instruction: The bible teaches us how to STAY right.

These are the things that the bible is good for. You just need to keep reading and stay on the scripture. As you read and study, it comes into your heart and you start feeling it and accept it.

During a service, do you hear something that the preacher says that resonates with you, and you find your mind drifting off about it, and then before you know it, you've missed out on some of the conversation? Different people will hear different things, and do you know what that is? That is the holy spirit telling us what we need to hear at that time.

Sturdy yourself with the bible. As 2 Timothy 2:15 says: "Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth." Learn the bible, and take it to heart so that when you come face to face with God, you don't feel like a fool for not knowing his word, or being unsure of what you should have known by now.

As I've said in my blog about The Milk and the Meat, once you learn the word of God, you are expected to be responsible for it, so learn it the best way that you can. You can't just skim over the chapters and only pick which parts you're going to follow. Be confident in knowing that if asked, you can answer to God himself, if needed to.

Let's go over that verse again from my Pastor's bible. It states "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." What does it mean by "Rightly dividing the word of truth"? It means to know what fits together as you read the bible, and tie together what makes it fit. But don't pick and choose from the bible.

For example, don't be a man that says "Okay God, I'm going to close my eyes and flip through the pages, and whatever verse my finger lands on is what you're trying to tell me right now." and you end up flipping to a random page, and then you land on Matthew 27:5 which says "Then Judas threw the silver coins down in the Temple and went out and hanged himself." Then you think "Well maybe that's not the right message. Maybe I need to try it again." So you do it again, and you land on Luke 10:37 where it says "Go and do likewise". So you go out and hang yourself. That's not the way it's done! That's not how you read and learn the bible.

You don't pick and choose the verses, just as you don't only apply the parts of the bible to your life that you want to fit. You use all of it to build up your life and live the way God wants you to. This is his instruction manual. You wouldn't start building a shed halfway though the manual, skipping all of the parts for building the frame and foundation, would you? And then skip from the walls to the roof, then back to the doorway, and then the frame. Read it. Understand it. Sometimes it might take you a few read-throughs, but that's why it's called the living word, because every time you read though it again, you get something new out of it that you didn't realize before.