Your Best: 2 Timothy 2:15

"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

This verse really stuck out to me as my purpose for writing this blog. This is what I want to say I've done. For this blog, you first need to know that I am not ashamed that I am a Christian. I encourage you to argue (politely, please, I don't like online yelling), ask questions, or to just to keep reading, even if you don't share my beliefs.

For all of us, the big idea here is to do your best. Didn't we first hear this back in like, kindergarten?! It still applies! What more can we do? If we expect too much from ourselves, we are thinking we should do better than our best. An expectation like that will just lead to disappointment and feelings of failure. On the other hand, if we don't put in the effort to achieve our very best, we are letting down not only ourselves, but our families from experiencing the best we have to offer.

I will do my best to correctly handle the word of truth. I do not know everything. Or even very much. But, I promise to give you my best. My goal is to post twice a week, but I make no promises. And just so we get this little piece out of the way now: I have no editor. I do not have a degree in writing and I don't always remember what should or shouldn't be Capitalized, comma-ed, colon-ed: or when I should stop writing because it's a run on sentence and run on sentences make you seem unsmart and... (now is good??). Also, I make up words. Like unsmart.

For you, I want to encourage you to do your best to walk this Christian walk, and do not be ashamed. You know what your best is better than anyone. I'm confident in saying that your best should include being in the Scriptures yourself. God wants to speak to you through His Word. He has a special message for your heart at just the right time. Your best for Him will mean learning from Him, I promise you that. 

One thing that has really helped me focus on Scripture throughout the day, when I'm in the midst of my everyday life, is to pick one verse a week to focus on. I write it down. I rewrite it. I look at it often. I say it out loud. And then usually I write it down again. For me, this is the best I can do. It's not realistic for me to memorize a verse a day. Or to spend an hour in quiet time at 5am every morning. But, it would be untrue to say that I don't have time at all to learn more Scripture. I just don't have time. Lie. That's not your best. God asks that we do our best.

Are you currently doing your best? What is one area where you need to lower your unrealistic expectations of yourself? What is one area where you need to put in more effort to achieve your best?