Continue In What You Have Learned

Continue In What You Have Learned

“Continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you have learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” 2 Timothy 3:14-15 NIV

Timothy had good upbringing in the Word through the faithful work of his mother and his grandmother. As a child, they read to him from the Old Testament. When Paul preached the Word in Lystra, Timothy readily received the Lord as his Savior. On Paul’s second visit to that city, he took Timothy along to serve the Lord. Paul loved him as his own “dear son” (2 Tim. 1:2) and taught him the doctrine he would need to be a faithful servant.

Paul then encouraged him to teach others also. As his heart had been prepared by hearing the Word read to him, he was encouraged to read aloud to others (1 Tim. 4:13); as he was taught the doctrines of the faith, he was to teach them to others (1 Tim. 4:16). In short he was to spread the Word.

The Scriptures are so important in the believer’s life. Paul already saw many evils leading saints astray. He also knew that the preventive medicine for this would be hearing and reading God’s Word and other writings faithful to the Word.

Over 150 years ago Daniel Webster, a 19th century American statesman, wrote this: “If truth be not diffused, error will be. If God and His Word are not known and received, the devil and his works will gain the ascendancy. If the evangelical volume does not reach every hamlet, the pages of a corrupt and licentious literature will. If the power of the gospel is not felt throughout the length and breadth of the land, anarchy and misrule, degradation and misery, corruption and darkness will reign without mitigation or end.”

Will we listen to Webster’s warning and Paul’s encouragement? This month’s Features can help.

By Larry Ondrejack