So You Want to Teach the Word of God?

I began January 1st reading the Word of God in one year following the M'Cheyne reading plan. I am also reading the daily companion devotionals in D.A. Carson's For the Love of God Volumes One and Two. I would highly recommend that you utilize these resources. Carson's commentary on Ezra 7 particularly resounded with me.

A few quotes:

"There is no long-range effective teaching of the Bible that is not accompanied by long hours of ongoing study of the Bible. Effectiveness in teaching the Bible is purchased at the price of much study, some of it lonely, all of it tiring. If you are not a student of the Word, you are not called to be a teacher of the Word."

Pretty sobering. Am I willing to put forth the effort to study the Bible so I can properly explain it to others?

"For some people, study is an end in itself, or perhaps a means to the end of teaching. But, even though the subject matter is Scripture, for these people there is no personal commitment to living under its precepts --- to ordering their marriage, their finances, their talk, their priorities, their values, by the Word of God. They do not constantly ask how the assumptions of their age and culture, assumptions that all of us pick up unawares, are challenged by Scripture. The study of Scripture, for such people, is an excellent intellectual discipline, but not a persistent call to worship; the Bible is to be mastered like a textbook, but it does not call the people of God to tremble; its truths are to be cherished, but it does not mediate the presence of God."

Does my orthopraxis match my orthodoxy?
Or to put it another way does the way I behave match my stated beliefs about God.
Do I practice what I preach.

May I devote my time to studying the Word of God.
May I devote my life to living out the precepts of the Word of God.

RC