Key Bible Verse: Be a good worker … who correctly explains the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15). Bonus Reading: Jeremiah 15:16

Every year in Yellowstone National Park, after tourist season is over and the snow falls, dozens of bears die by the side of the road. Park rangers say that the bears starve to death, waiting for handouts from the tourists. They become so dependent on humans for their food that their natural instinct to forage becomes short-circuited.

What a picture of many Christians! We often suffer from the habit of letting others do our biblical study and thinking for us. They invest the time and energy in pursuing the truths of God, as we wait to be spoon-fed.

God's truth doesn't come naturally to us. [In today's Key Bible Verse,] Paul admonishes the young leader Timothy to take responsibility for his own spiritual growth. Diligent study must be applied for that truth to become ours. We do new believers no favor when we suggest that all they have to do to grow in the truths of God is to show up in the pew a couple of times a week and get it by osmosis. We act in the church as if simply being there is enough to grow us up in the faith. And that simply isn't true. Growing deep in the things of God doesn't happen by osmosis!

My Response: I'm taking responsibility for my own spiritual growth by …

Thought to Apply: That which we receive directly from the Lord through the study of His Word is from the minting house itself.—John Bunyan (preacher, 17th century)