HOW TO BE THOROUGHLY EQUIPPED
It All Comes Down To Expectation.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 states, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
In Western Christianity, we have a dozen Bibles available to us at any given moment: A couple in our home, one in the glove box of our vehicle and one in our desk at work.
Moreover, we can get access to the Bible on the Internet, or we can download an app on our mobiles devices to truly have the Bible everywhere we go.
For a moment, think about the underground church in China or Christians fleeing ISIS in the Middle East. If they were to look at our availability of Scripture, they’d definitely say that we’re thoroughly equipped.
But it has everything to do with expectation.
Let me give you an example.
Since moving to the Yukon, I’ve become well acquainted with hunting gear. Or should I say my wallet has become well acquainted with hunting gear. (For some reason my debit card really loves camo!)
I typically hunt with a friend of mine from the church and between the two of us, we are thoroughly equipped for hunting. Although, we’ve learned that hunting is different from finding, and hunting is very different from harvesting.
White Mountain
A couple of weeks ago, my friend and I planned to go up White Mountain to see if we could find a spring black bear. The night before, as I packed my gear, I thought through what kind of equipment I would need.
It had been relatively sunny the past few days so I decided to pack fairly light clothing. And items like a toque and gloves would definitely be left behind.
Well, at the base of White Mountain at 6:00 AM, it was chilly!
“It’ll warm up.” I thought (or I hoped). By the time we reached the top of the mountain there were patches of snow, the wind was howling and we were frozen! After a half hour of sitting still, we were done and headed back down the mountain empty-handed.
And just in time! As we started driving, it started raining, which eventually turned into wet snow.
Here’s the Point:
I had more than enough gear and equipment available to me. Toques, gloves, mitts, fleece, hand warmers, foot warmers; you name it, I’ve got it. (Most of it in RealTree camo I might add!)
But it was all at home. So it was useless to me.
My expectation was to be sitting on the top of the mountain, glassing for bear in a t-shirt, feeling the sun’s warmth on my face. But my expectation was based on what I wanted, not based on what I might need.
My expectation was built on emotion, not on intelligence. I had been up mountains before. I knew that the weather could change. But I ignored it.
Back To the Bible
This is why being thoroughly equipped has everything to do with expectation.
When I’m preparing for trip in the mountains, I need to move the gear from my shelf into my pack. As Christians, we need to move God’s Word from the pages to our minds.
We’ve got to read it to, listen to it, meditate on it; mentally digest each and every word to truly say we are thoroughly equipped.
Before we start our day or before we lay down at night, our expectation should be that we will need what’s found in this Book called the Bible, at some point in the next 24 hours.
