◄ What Does 2 Timothy 4:2 Mean? ►

We are exhorted to preach or expound the Word of God. We are instructed to preach or proclaim the truth of Scripture, for the Word is life and light, it is hope and it is peace, for we preach Christ crucified. To preach the Word is to preach the truth, and to preach the truth of God's Word is to preach Christ - with no compromise.

In today's relative world when absolute truth is being refuted on all sides and the Word of God is treated with derision by both secular as well as religious 'authorities', we need to 'pin our colours' to the mast of our lives and be ready at all times and in every place to preach the Word. Whether convenient or not, in season and out of season, we should be ready and prepared to patiently preach the truth of Scripture, not only with our words but in our lives. Not only with our actions but with our attitudes. Not only in our behaviours but in the hidden motives that rule our thinking.

To preach the truth in love may require us to patiently and compassionately correct a brother or sister who has been led astray from the Word of truth. It may require us to follow scriptural guidelines to rebuke or challenge a man or ministry, but any admonishment should never be aggressively or deliberately confrontational. Preaching the Word is often to encourage and exhort the Body of Christ as we watch and wait for the any day return of the Lord Jesus for His Church – but it should always reflect Christ's gracious character.

To preach the Word does not mean to teach others what you think it says, what you would like it to say, or what others conclude that it says. It means to preach what God literally says in His Word, in the context in which it is written without seeking to allegorise the Scripture or read an alternative meaning into the Word.

God has spoken in His Word, and we would do well to take note of what He says. Then we truly will be equipped to "preach the Word, to be ready in season and out of season to preach and teach, to reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete godly patience and sound teaching."

Loving Father, I pray that my life, in word and deed, may be a sermon to others. Give me, I pray, a correct understanding of the truth of Your Word. Prevent me from adding my own fallible interpretation of Your Word, but may I rightly divide and preach the Word of truth. In Jesus' name, AMEN.