STUDY IN HIS PRESENCE
2Timothy 2:14-16 Keep reminding them of these
things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value,
and only ruins those who listen. Do your best to present yourself to God as one
approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. Avoid godless chatter, because
those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.
In
all its branches alike, theology has as its unique end to make God known: the
student of theology is brought by his daily task into the presence of God, and
is kept there. Can a religious man stand in the presence of God, and not
worship? It is possible, I have said, to study even theology in a purely
secular spirit. But surely that is possible only for an irreligious man, or at least for an unreligious man. And here I
place in your hands at once a touchstone by which you may discern your
religious state, and an instrument for the quickening of your religious life.
Do you prosecute your daily tasks as students of theology as “religious
exercises”? If you do not, look to yourselves: it is surely not all right with
the spiritual condition of that man who can busy himself daily with divine
things, with a cold and impassive heart. If you do, rejoice. But in any case,
see that you do! And, that you do it ever more and more abundantly.
Whatever you may have done in the past, for the future
make all your theological studies “religious exercises.” This is the great rule
for a rich and wholesome religious life in a theological student. Put your
heart into your studies; do not merely occupy your mind with them, but put your
heart into them. They bring you daily and hourly into the very presence of God;
his ways, his dealing with men, the infinite majesty of his Being form their
very subject matter. Put the shoes from off your feet in this holy presence!
The Religious Life of Theological Students by Benjamin B. Warfield, pg.
5.
