GROWING CLOSER TO ME?

Second Timothy 2:15

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.

A Workman-like Effort

Growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord is basically a command (2 Pet. 3:18), but it doesn’t happen just by reading the Bible. We must put into practice what we read and learn. Bible study produces a more biblical knowledge, but it also grows us in grace because the more we take in the Word of God, the more the Word of God takes us in–into the mind of God. The more you read His Word, the more of His grace you will see, and this helps us to not only know more about God’s grace, but it allows us to grow in that grace. Grace is God’s unmerited favor toward undeserving sinners, and that is what we need to reflect to others, having a grace-filled attitude toward others so that they can see God’s grace in us. Our grace-filled life can hopefully point them toward the Grace-Giver, but it takes work. A worker works consistently, and only then is he or she approved by God with no need to ashamed because we’ll know how to rightly discern or divide God’s Word in its proper context (2 Tim. 2:15). Laboring in the Word produces godly character.

Abiding in the Lord

In John 15 we see Jesus telling His disciples that they must abide in Him because they, like we, cannot bear any fruit by ourselves (John 15:4) but only by abiding in Him. This means that by abiding in His Word, we will bear a lot of fruit–godly fruit, that is (John 15:5). Since Jesus is called the Word (John 1:1, 14), we must abide in His Word because that’s what abiding in Him means. Only then will His Word bear fruit in us. That means that we intentionally seek out and make an effort to abide in His Word every single day. My morning routine has been to pray first, and that is also a deliberate action to grow closer to Him. We can’t grow closer to someone without having daily conversations with them. Next, I read some out of the New Testament and then some out of the Old Testament. I want to get into the Word every day so that the Word of God gets into me every day. That’s how we not only abide in Him but He abides in us. If you are abiding with someone daily (abiding means to dwell in, remain in), you will naturally grow closer to them, and that’s what I want.

The Mind of Christ

If we want to be more like God, we must have God’s mind in us, and the Word of God is God’s mind in print. I want to have the mind of Christ. Paul asks the rhetorical question of who has known the mind of Christ to instruct Him (1 Cor. 2:16). The obvious answer is that no one fully knows the mind of Christ, but Paul declares he has that mind in him. We can have the mind of Christ in us but still fully never know enough to instruct God. If we seek to have the mind of Christ, then we must deliberately get our mind into the Word, for you cannot separate the Word of God from the God of the Word.

A Closing Prayer

Great God in heaven, thank You for Your Word so that I have the opportunity to know Your mind in order that I can intentionally and deliberately grow closer to You and know You better, that I might be more like You. In Jesus’ name I pray.

Amen