Articles
FedEx and the Bible
“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15)
This might sound strange, but Fedex taught me something critical about “handling the word of truth." You don’t get to handle it however you want. There is a right way of doing it—and a wrong way.
In my brief time working at Fedex, I met many people who took their job seriously and did it well. I strove to be like them: handling the material efficiently, quickly, and safely. However, not everyone shared that motivation. Some just wanted to get the job done—no matter how poorly. I remember guys violently pushing, throwing, and even crushing material just to fit more in their carts. Their justification? “I don’t care how it gets to its destination, as long as it gets there.”
The core problem was that they assumed that handling the material had nothing to do with how they handled it. The package could reach its recipient broken and shattered and they thought they had done their job. They were wrong on so many levels.
It is the same with Scripture! While the Bible, read objectively, can withstand the tactics of corrupt mishandlers, people can still mishandle “the word of truth” in such a way that the recipient receives nothing but a broken imitation of it.
• The devil did this even by quoting Scripture accurately—but he applied it deceptively (Matthew 4:1-11). He used God’s word to promote a conclusion God never intended, twisting the meaning through isolation and manipulation. Jesus saw through it because He intimately knew His Father’s will—not just words on a page. This reminds us that Scripture can be used verbatim, yet still be deeply misused if the heart, context, and purpose are corrupted.
• Some preachers do this by subtly implying that God’s authority doesn’t matter. I once heard a lesson on worshiping in spirit and truth (John 4:24), where the speaker brought up David dancing before the Ark of the Covenant as it returned to Israel (2 Samuel 6:14-15). His words (I’m not embellishing) were, “David didn’t have book, chapter and verse to do this!” He began the lesson by claiming that Spirit and Truth were inseparable in worship—and I heartily agree! But by the end of the lesson, he had clearly changed his mind and used this example to justify it. He shamefully mishandled Scripture.
• Others mishandle God’s word by not preaching the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27). They say they “just read the text and let it speak,” yet avoid difficult teachings (cf. John 6:60). One man, when asked why he didn’t preach on marriage, divorce and remarriage, said, “I don’t like to preach on controversial things.” Others won’t teach on God’s exclusive fellowship because they want to broaden it. Still more refuse to address issues like social drinking, modesty, doctrine—and the list goes on. Mishandling God’s word doesn’t just mean twisting it (cf. 2 Peter 3:16). It can very simply mean neglecting or ignoring a text or principle altogether.
Now, this isn’t to say that anyone who makes a mistake while handling the word is a corrupt false teacher. Even Apollos needed correction to more accurately teach the truth (Acts 18:24-26). However, the difference between those striving to handle God’s word accurately and those who don’t care lies in their response to correction.
If someone acknowledges their error clearly and corrects it to prevent confusion—that’s a good handler. If someone avoids addressing it, laughs it off, or tries to villainize those who lovingly pointed it out—then that’s a poor and shameful handler of the word of truth.
This teaches us two things: (1) We must demand an accurate, respectful handling of God’s word from those delivering the Gospel. (2) We must require the same from ourselves as the recipients.
We tend to get very upset with a delivery service if our package arrives damaged. That makes sense. But shouldn’t we be even more upset when the word of truth is delivered in a similarly broken condition? And perhaps an even more important question: Do we even recognize when it has been delivered broken or distorted?
