Verse of the Day for May 25

Paul calls Timothy a workman. Not a scholar or a celebrity. A tradesman, the kind who works with his hands and whose work can be inspected at the end of the day.

The phrase rightly dividing the word of truth carries the picture of cutting straight. A carpenter sawing timber along the line. A farmer ploughing a straight furrow. Handling Scripture well is a craft, learned slowly and done carefully.

But notice what surrounds that verse. Before it, Paul tells Timothy to charge people that they strive not about words to no profit. After it, shun profane and vain babblings. On both sides of the craft sits the danger of arguing for the sake of arguing.

That is where the open hand comes in. A workman with a clenched fist cannot cut straight. Study is meant to make you approved unto God, not victorious over your cousin at the family gathering.

So study. Open the Bible on the bus, read slowly, compare one passage with another, ask honest questions. Then hold what you learn with an open hand, ready to serve with it rather than to win with it.

A good workman measures twice and argues rarely.

The aim of study is God's approval, not the last word.