“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15

40 years ago I was a carpenter. It was my first job after getting married. I started out as a frame carpenter and bought the tool pouch, speed-square, tape, chalk line, circular saw and a 20 oz Craftsman framing hammer. I could drive a 16d nail in 3 hits! 10 months later I became a trim carpenter. All I really needed to swap was my hammer. I bought a wooden handled 12 oz. Hammer. I became good at using it as well. EVEN upside down!

Yesterday at church I needed to install a door. I grabbed those same 40 year old tools and got to work. Everything went well until I had to drive in the finish nails to hold the door. It seems that a lot has changed in 40 years. Nails ain’t like they used to be! They bend easier!!! And that ain’t all!

As sweat poured down my face, I couldn’t see very well because my reading glasses kept fogging up. When I bent over to drive a nail upside down, my glasses dropped from my eyes onto my head. My back hurt and to top it off, the nail set kept slippin’ off the head of those junky finish nails!!! I’d a laughed if I hadn’t gotten so upset at myself!

I once was a legend! Now it’s just in my mind! I can’t do what I used to. But that’s OK! I don’t have to make my living at hammering anymore! Or do I? You see, being a preacher and teacher I need to know Jesus REALLY well! That means I need to spend a lot of time with Him and His Word. My Doctor knows Doctoring because he does it every day. I know Jesus because I spend a LOT of time with Him. So here’s a not so little secret!

I know my Bible. And I know what it says. I know what works, and I know what doesn’t! And I ALSO know that if YOU aren’t spending time with Jesus and His Word, your life isn’t going as well as it could. Joy isn’t present, peace is absent, love has fled and worry, doubt and fear are probably your constant companions. I know because I’ve been there. But ON one has to STAY there!

It wouldn’t take me TOO much time to get my swing back with that hammer. And it wouldn’t take YOU long to get back on the working road with God either! Jesus doesn’t want you ashamed. He wants you HIS. The promises He makes are WAY above ANYTHING you can get here. So why not join a Bible Study or group? Or pick up your Bible, read a devotional or 2 a day and get those spiritual muscles going again! Cuz friend…. we have an eternal life to build!