THE IMPORTANCE OF STUDY

Dallas Willard (1935-2013) wrote, “In the spiritual discipline of study we engage ourselves, above all, with the written and spoken Word of God. Here is the chief positive counterpart of solitude. As solitude is the primary discipline of abstinence for the early part of our spiritual life, so study is the primary discipline of engagement.
Our early experience may be so full that we neglect study. But relationship with God, as with any person, soon requires a contribution from us, which will largely consist of study. Calvin Miller well remarks, “Mystics without study are only spiritual romantics who want relationship without effort.”
The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy to encourage him to: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” The King James Version uses the phrase, “Study to show yourself approved.”

Strong’s Concordance says the actual Greek means, “to use speed, i.e. to make effort, be prompt or earnest: —do (give) diligence, be diligent (forward), endeavor, labor, study.”

“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Jesus