Study to be Approved
(December 22, 2025)
Children long for their parents’ approval, especially their father’s. They crave their
dad’s smile when they do well and it hurts when it’s not there, or disapproval
reigns in its place. A worker longs for kudos from his boss. We all want to be
approved when we do well.
May I ask you, and myself, do we have that same longing for God’s approval? Is
our deepest desire to hear our Savior say to us, “Well done, good and faithful
servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord!” (Matthew 25:21)
While we never need to earn God’s love, that is ours because God is love, it is His
nature to love us, His smile of approval, however, rests on our obedience to His
commands. That obedience takes three forms. The first is our surrender to the
commands of Scripture, the most important being to “Love God with all our heart,
soul, mind, and strength,” and to “Love our neighbor as ourselves.” (Matthew
22:34-40)
The second form our obedience takes is our surrender to the Holy Spirit when He
directs our lives. When the Spirit prompts us to share our food with someone in
need or share a word of truth from Scripture with a friend, or stranger, we must
obey.
The third form our obedience takes is that when we teach the Word of God, we
must be diligent to do it correctly. 2 Timothy 2:15 says, “Study to show yourself
approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the
word of truth.” If we desire to teach others the Word of God, it is critical that we
study hard and know what the text says in context with the passage, the chapter,
the book, and the entire Word of God.
Let us seek to be approved of our God in our obedience to His commands, His
Holy Spirit, and teaching His Word. Then we will hear “Well, done good and
faithful servant!”