Approval

 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
2 Timothy 2:15 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/2ti.2.15.ESV

What really matters in life isn't the approval of others. We don't really need the validation of others to do the right thing. What really matters is that God justifies us.

How does God justify us? Is it by us trying our best? Really, it's by us trusting in Him, and even our faith is a gift from Him, so there's no room for boasting.

Having trusted in God for salvation, we ought to live lives that seek to prove that He is saving us: transforming us from sinners to saints in the likeness of Christ. This is what Paul is telling Timothy. He isn't telling him to earn His salvation, as if that were possible.

Timothy was trained by Paul as a worker in the word of God. It's the word of truth, and has to be handled rightly. We need clean hands and a pure heart to be able to work properly with the Bible: it's possible through faith in Christ crucified for us.

'Almighty Father God, please help us to correctly handle Your holy word. Please justify us in the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, amen'

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