"Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." (2 Tim. 2:15)

The story is told of a small fishing village where, for many years, a flock of sea gulls fed on the scraps the fishermen left. All was fine and good for the sea gulls until eventually the fishing became poor, and the villagers moved down the coast to a location where fish were more plentiful. The sea gulls did not follow the fishermen and--because they had lived off the scraps of the fishermen and never learned to feed themselves--the entire flock of birds died.

Believers who feed only on what others teach them are like those foolish sea gulls. (From 1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching, p. 32)