On my last day at one of my old jobs, I approached one of the veteran engineers on the team whom I will call Peter. Allow me give some background, Peter has little “people skills”, and a poor command of grammar, but Peter is really adept at what he does. He is amongst the top in his profession nationwide, and the go to guy in difficult situations. When nobody can solve a problem, they go to Peter – who miraculously, always ends up solving the problem. When I first met Peter, he was on his way to his honey moon. For his trip, he packed a bevy of technical manuals of which I and some other teammates chided him for. I will never forget his reply. He said simply, “Knowledge is Power”. That shut us up for good.
Back to my approach of Peter. I thanked Peter for all that I had learned from him. Peter, without warning or prompt, proceeded to tell me something that I didn’t know about him before hand. He said that he didn’t graduate from high school but by applying himself to studying, he had climbed to great heights professionally. He had become one of the elites in his field. Across the nation, people call him for assistance on their issues. Peter was right, even those on our team with Master’s degrees could not match Peter’s skill. I left that meeting full of reflection and insight. What can and what will happen to anyone who would apply themselves to studying is yet to be determined. The growth you will experience if you apply yourself to studying cannot easily be measured.
The Apostle Paul, in exhorting young Timothy, had this, amongst others to say to him:
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. – 2 Timothy 2:15
The moment you stop studying, you start declining. In life, you will face situations in which you do not have the personal experience to help you overcome. But if you have “borrowed” experience from someone else, dead or alive, through a book you have read – you will be in prime shape to effectively deal with it. Apply yourself. Study, read voraciously in and out of your circle of competence. Devour books with unashamed gluttony. It is the best advice I can give you other than surrendering your life to Jesus Christ – Read. Don’t stop – read, study. Your future depends on it, your family depends on it. God through His word is telling you today, study to show thyself approved.
