Why should I study?

In 2 Timothy 2:15, Paul writes to Timothy:

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

How can we handle the word of truth if all we know is what someone else tells us? Sometimes I think that many people today just leave the studying and teaching to preachers and teachers. It's comparable to an infomercial. Someone talks for about 30 minutes, trying to sell us their point of view on how best to do a specific task (in this case, how to please God), and we just sit there and listen.

In verses 20-22, Paul writes:

Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.  So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

In order to learn how to please the Lord, we have to cleanse ourselves from what is dishonorable. The only way to learn how to do that is to study for ourselves. It's like the infomercial example - I can't count the number of times I've seen infomercials that make preposterous claims about the validity of their product in losing weight quickly.

Do these products work?

Usually, no.

Occasionally, one will, but how do we tell if it's any good? We do the research ourselves and learn how we can best become fit, then see if the product fits within that body of research. Don't be that person who buys into the preposterous claims of infomercial preachers. You won't be wasting your money, you'll be wasting your soul.

Study - it's the only way to know.

With Christian love,
Ethan