2 Timothy 2:15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.

This whole passage should be foundational for all seminaries! Probably most quote at least this verse, but sadly, not so many really instill the totality of it into their students, probably because only a fraction, if any, of their faculty really live it out. A careful study of this passage would go a long way toward preventing many of the shipwrecks of ministry that happen every year. Even this verse is loaded with foundational principles for a minister. Where the NIV says “one approved,” the Japanese says “fully trained.” The expression combines the characters for “training” and for “ripe,” as in ripe fruit. We all encounter training from the Lord, but how we respond to it determines whether we really “ripen” from it, or just get bruised. There’s a real difference! Sometimes the very trials that drive people out of ministry are intended by God to mature them to make them far more useful in His kingdom. And then there’s the matter of dealing with Scripture. This is where many seminaries have become total train wrecks! Scholarship and an understanding of the difficulties of translation and cultural context are important, but they must be on the foundation of approaching it as the Word of God, or human conceit will lead you completely astray. I know of schools that teach that the Bible is essentially a collection of mythology and fables, and then have the gall to call themselves seminaries! That can hardly be called “correctly handling” (or “explaining,” as the Japanese has it) the Word of truth. And then there’s the whole matter of applying yourself fully to this work as an offering to God. “Do your best to present yourself to God” isn’t a bad translation, but we probably gloss over it most of the time. Properly understood, it removes all grounds for laziness, either physical or spiritual, while at the same time recognizing that the power and the results are God’s.

The seminary I attended did moderately well in the items touched on in this verse, but it could have done far more to instill the principles of the passage as a whole. I have current seminary students in my care, and I need to be active in communicating these truths and training the students in them, so that they may avoid shipwreck. The most important part of that is of course to set the right example. I feel I do a fairly good job of that, but I could certainly do more to help them understand just why I do the things I do in the way I do, without making them think that’s the only way they can be done. I need to be very careful how I present and explain Scripture to the flock, so that it will be understandable to them and easy for them to apply to the situations they experience in their daily lives. That is how I am to present myself as a living sacrifice to God.

Father, thank You for this very clear reminder. Thank You for how far You have brought me, and for the assurance that You will continue to guide and train me so that I will indeed have no reason to be ashamed. May I live each day in humble, joyful obedience to You, so that all of Your purposes for me may be fulfilled, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!