THE STEEL SQUARE

Recently, while going through some of my father’s belongings, I came across a book entitled, Steel Square and its Practical Uses. Suddenly, my mind flashed back to the days of my youth. I could see my father standing at a job site, steel square in hand, laying out stairs, rafters, roof framing, hip and valley rafters, bevels for hips, valleys and jack rafters, calculating unequal pitches for roof, figuring joints for obtuse or acute angles, laying out braces, girts and trusses, and even drawing circles, or finding the center of a circle.

I used the square to measure and draw a straight line. Dad used it to solve almost every mathematical problem connected with a construction job.

We both had the same square. Dad knew how to use it; I didn’t.

I thought of the Bible. Some know how to use it; some don’t. For many it is merely a decorative touch on the coffee table, or a talisman to ward off evil. It’s a book to be opened at random in a time of crisis, or perhaps consulted when death invades the home. Some who are ignorant and unstable take the words of the Bible which are hard to understand, and others which should be clear, and twist them to their own destruction. (2 Peter 3:16).

Those who understand the Bible find it to be the most profitable book in the world. It trains them in righteousness, and equips them for every good work.

A Christian workman needs to know how to use his tools. Paul emphasized it when he said, "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15).

John Gibson