“Be diligent to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth.”
‭‭2 Timothy‬ ‭2‬:‭15‬ ‭CSB‬‬

In today’s verse, Paul is speaking to his younger apprentice, Timothy. Apparently Timothy is in the midst of some so-called Christians who are teaching things that contradict the Gospel that Paul taught. The Gospel, or “the word of truth” that Paul refers to, is simple: Jesus is God’s son. He loved us so much that He came to earth as a human to save us by teaching us, healing us, and ultimately dying in our place so that we could have a relationship with God, despite our sin. After He died, He rose again, conquering death. And one day He will come again bringing a new heaven and earth in which those of us who believed in Him can spend eternity enjoying His beautiful presence. The end.

Anything extra is not the Gospel, is not the Good News, and is not the word of truth.

Part of my job as a follower of Jesus is to spread this Good News, like Paul did. Like Timothy did. But it’s so easy to get distracted by the hot topic of the day. To preach something else, to tack on other “important” things. But this is not at all my job and only confuses the true message of Jesus. It is not important to preach about abortion. It is not important to preach about homosexuality. It is not important to preach about gender roles. It’s not important to preach about the hot topic of Paul’s day, circumcision. It is simply not important to preach anything other than the simple word of truth: “God loves you SO much that He sacrificed everything for you so you could be with Him forever in peace if you just accept His free gift of forgiveness and love.” This is true for everyone, at any time, in any situation, with any sort of sin or lifestyle choice. It is not important whether I agree with my audience’s choices or not. It is important to love them enough to tell them about Jesus.

If I do that, I can “present myself to God as one approved, a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth.”

Dear God,

Thank you for your simple and clear instructions about what you care about and what my message should be as your follower. Thank you for loving and saving me. Show me how and when to share this Good News. Forgive me for the times when my message gets muddled by other things that seem important. Remind me to return to you constantly to be reminded of the only truth and to discard everything that isn’t important.