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To Grow, Study the Word, April 7
All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for
correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to
God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16, 17
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NRSV.
The teacher of the truth should advance in knowledge, growing in grace and in
Christian experience, cultivating habits and practices which will do honor to God
and to His Word. He or she should show others how to make a practical application
of the Word. Every advance we make in sanctified ability, in varied studies, will
help us to understand the Word of God; and the study of the Scriptures helps us in
the study of the other branches essential in education.
After the first acquaintance with the Bible, the interest of earnest seekers grows
rapidly. The discipline gained by a regular study of the Word of God enables them
to see a freshness and beauty in truth that they never before discerned. Reference to
texts, when speaking, becomes natural and easy to a Bible student.
Above everything else, it is essential for the teachers of the Word of God to
seek most earnestly to possess themselves of the internal evidence of the Scriptures.
Those who would be blessed with this evidence must search the Scriptures for
themselves. As they learn the lessons given by Christ, and compare scripture with
scripture, to see whether they themselves bear its credentials, they will obtain a
knowledge of God’s Word, and the truth will write itself on their souls.
The truth is the truth. It is not to be wrapped up in beautiful adornings, that
the outside appearance may be admired. The teacher is to make the truth clear
and forcible to the understanding and to the conscience. The Word is a two-edged
sword that cuts both ways. It does not tread as with soft, slippered feet.
There are many cases where people who have defended Christianity against
skeptics have afterward lost their own souls in the mazes of skepticism. They
caught the malaria, and died spiritually. They had strong arguments for the truth,
and much outside evidence, but they did not have an abiding faith in Christ. Oh,
there are thousands upon thousands of professed Christians who never study the
Bible! Study the sacred Word prayerfully, for your own soul’s benefit. When you
hear the word of living preachers, if they have a living connection with God, you
will find that the Spirit and the word agree.—
The Review and Herald, April 20,
1897
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