{"id":699,"date":"2019-08-11T17:57:50","date_gmt":"2019-08-11T22:57:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/?p=699"},"modified":"2019-08-18T19:18:35","modified_gmt":"2019-08-19T00:18:35","slug":"how-to-prepare-for-living-a-christian-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/2019\/08\/11\/how-to-prepare-for-living-a-christian-life\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Prepare for Living a Christian Life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p style=\"text-align:center\"> \u201c<strong>Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth<\/strong>\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align:center\">(2 Timothy 2:15) <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"752\" height=\"500\" src=\"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Web-Verse-19-2-TImothy-2-15.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-700\" srcset=\"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Web-Verse-19-2-TImothy-2-15.jpg 752w, http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Web-Verse-19-2-TImothy-2-15-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Timothy was a great\nChristian and Paul\u2019s faithful friend. Although Timothy\u2019s mother and grandmother\nhad taught him about Jesus, Paul had led Timothy to Jesus (taught him how to be\nsaved) and watched him grow in his Christian faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Paul wrote a letter\nof encouragement to Timothy. After reminding him of his salvation, he\nencouraged him to step up to the task God had placed before him. Timothy was to\n<strong><em>not<\/em><\/strong>\nbe ashamed of the Gospel message, but to be willing to stand up faithfully and\nteach the truths of that Gospel. And to even be proud if he suffered\n\u201cafflictions of the gospel\u201d (see 2 Timothy 1:8-10). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Paul had taught him\nthe importance of sound doctrine. \u201c<strong>13.\nHold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and\nlove which is in Christ Jesus. 14. That good thing which was committed unto\nthee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us<\/strong>\u201d (2 Timothy 1:13-14). See\nthe following definitions to help you understand what Paul was telling Timothy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Form<\/strong>: \u201ca sketch, or concise, representation or form\u201d<\/li><li><strong>Sound<\/strong>: \u201csound doctrine, i.e.: true; pure; uncorrupted\u201d<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Paul wanted Timothy\nto understand the importance of holding on to the sound doctrine \u2013 true, pure,\nuncorrupted \u2013 that he had been taught (that is now recorded in God\u2019s Word for\nus to read). Paul followed this with a warning that there would be some who\nwould turn away from him when he stood for the truths in God\u2019s Word \u2013 &nbsp;for Paul had already seen a departure from the\nfaith, leaving him to stand alone in Asia (see 2 Timothy 1:15). Paul had\nalready warned him this would happen (see 1 Timothy 4:1). But Paul also encouraged\nTimothy that he could endure this because the Holy Spirit dwells in us \u2013 He\nwon\u2019t leave!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But how do you\nprepare for a life pleasing to God? \u201c<strong>Study\nto shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,\nrightly dividing the word of truth<\/strong>\u201d (2 Timothy 2:15). Christians must <strong><em>study<\/em><\/strong>\nand <strong><em>know<\/em><\/strong>\nGod\u2019s Word. They must be able to discern between the truth of God\u2019s Word and\nfalse teaching. This is just the first step in knowing how to live a Christian\nlife. But it is a very important one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is a child\u2019s\nsong that I am reminded of\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cRead your Bible,\npray every day, and you will grow, grow, grow!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Don\u2019t read your\nBible, or pray every day, and you will shrink, shrink, shrink!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Do you want to grow?\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Or do you want to\nshrink?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The choice is up to\nyou!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cStudy to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth\u201d (2 Timothy 2:15) Timothy was a great Christian and Paul\u2019s faithful friend. Although Timothy\u2019s mother and grandmother had taught him about Jesus, Paul had led Timothy to Jesus (taught him how to be saved) [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[318],"tags":[300,303,306,309,308,277,310,307,301,305,304,302],"class_list":["post-699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-picture-with-verse-and-blog","tag-christian-life","tag-dividing","tag-encouragment","tag-grow","tag-know","tag-paul","tag-shrink","tag-sound-doctrine","tag-study","tag-timothy","tag-word","tag-workman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=699"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":703,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699\/revisions\/703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}