Every solider enrolled in any army undergoes training. His first experience is basic training. Here he learns the basics of soldiering. An important part of this training is the proper use and care of his weapon. Proper use involves both how and when to use the weapon. Improper use can result in harm to both himself and his fellow soldiers. But his training does not end after basic for he continues to train in use of the weapon and other vital aspects of his service. The Christian soldier is no different.
Christians need to continue training as long as we are of sound mind. The Christian has a weapon for use in our spiritual warfare, the word of God as Paul wrote to the Ephesians in 6:17. Much misuse of the Bible exists today and the results are damnable in many cases. Additionally, the Christian soldier needs an understanding of the protective armor provided by the Lord as Paul described in Ephesians 6:14-17. This is why the church offers Bible studies twice a week in addition to the Sunday sermons, gospel meetings, and Vacation Bible School. When looking in Acts for the training of the earliest Christians, one finds they met daily. Luke records the early Christians gathering daily for study; the one result being their unity, or as Acts has it, "one accord" (Acts 2:46). In addition to public study the child of God needs daily study and meditation on the Bible's teachings. Paul wrote Timothy to "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15). The word translated study in the KJV means giving great diligence as indicated by the NKJV and ASV translations. That diligent study is what Paul was requiring is indicated from the latter part of the verse where he writes of "rightly dividing the word of truth." One must give constant earnest effort to "rightly divide" the Bible's teaching. Paul informed Timothy of why he wrote in 1 Timothy 1:18 where we find: "This charge I commit to thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare." In 2 Timothy 2:3,4 Paul wrote, "Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier." Paul's two epistles to Timothy were instructions for Christian warfare. Paul wrote near the end of the second epistle, "I have fought a good fight." Timothy was also commanded by Paul to "give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine." This requires diligent study. The Christian must spend time in the study of God's word in order to fight the good fight as Paul had and be prepared to receive the crown of life.
More next week.
—Denny