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Many of us are familiar with personal resumes where we make every effort to present our credentials to prospective employers. To Timothy, the Apostle Paul challenged him (and us) to develop the right attitude to qualify to be an ‘approved worker ’ in his service to God. Question: How do we become ‘approved workers’ to God?

For a start, we must be grounded in the Bible – the Word of God. It is more than just accumulating head Bible knowledge. We must make serious efforts to apply what we learn into our own lives – application of knowledge. We then diligently study it to be able to teach it to others for them to understand. If we are grounded in the Bible, we will avoid quarrels and godless chatters and the pitfall s that afflict false teachers in making serious errors in their teaching s. A good understanding of the Bible is crucial in our spiritual growth and attaining spiritual maturity and competence in handling Biblical truths.

We live in days of enormous moral, spiritual and cultural confusions. Modern-day followers of Hymenaeus and Philetus can be found everywhere. It would be easy and even tempting for us Christians to fall into despair in the midst of such falsehood. But G od knows who His people are. They are called by Him to moral purity and to depart from the wickedness of the world. “The Lord detests the way of the wicked but he loves those who pursue righteousness”(Prov. 15:9).

Those who trust in God will be safe forever. But if we are going to serve Him and serve people, we must have the diligence and wisdom in applying Bible teachings. We will then not be s wept away in days of spiritual confusion and decadence. In today’s social context, Christians must be clear on the issue of same sex marriage because the Bible has clear teachings on how God views the matter of homosexual sin. We have to be cleansed of unholy habits too. We must take our faith seriously and walk in the Holy Spirit to demonstrate the character of Jesus by our godly behaviour. We must strive to be useful workers of God in every way. We have the privilege to trust the Lord and call out to Him to help us achieve this. He promised never to turn away those who call out to Him in sincerity and humility. We can be God’s approved workers.