2 Timothy 3:14-17
"But as for you, continue in what you have
learned and have become convinced of,
because you know those from whom you
learned it, and how from infancy you have
known the holy scriptures, which are able
to make you wise for salvation through faith
in christ jesus. All scripture is god-breathed
and is useful for teaching, rebuking,
correcting, and training in righteousness,
so that the servant of god may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."
I work in the engineering profession and like most professions, it requires years of
education, training, firsthand experience, and failures to develop your craft. While
everyone can go through the same education and training, the ability to become
successful is dependent on so many other factors. Finding a mentor that can help you
grow your technical expertise is vital. What makes a good mentor? A good mentor can
evaluate where your weaknesses are and help you to improve in those problem areas.
A good mentor is a teacher at heart that is humble enough to share lessons learned
from poor decisions.
A former employee of mine checked all the boxes to become a good design engineer.
He received an engineering degree, attended numerous continuing education training
courses, performed firsthand engineering design, and worked closely with senior staff
(mentors) to learn from them. However, he lacked one important attribute,
confidence. He often sought feedback from every available senior engineer who was
willing to offer an opinion, seemingly to validate his concepts or to piece together the
best ideas from everyone he spoke to. At first glance, this doesn’t sound like a bad
idea, but it stifled his ability to complete work on his own and become a dependable
senior design engineer.
How does this story apply to 2 Timothy 3:14-17? God speaks to us through the
scriptures. He equips us with the education and training we need to become more
Christ like in our daily walk. While it is great to see out the opinions of friends, family
members, fellow Christians, etc., it is so much more important to just listen to God. He
speaks to us through the scriptures and gives us the confidence we need to handle
every situation we encounter on this earth. That applies to parenting, conflict
resolution in the workplace, your relationship with your spouse, neighbors, and even
strangers you encounter. It also applies to our Christian walk. God clearly tells us to
engage in prayer often, serve others, to do all things to his Glory. Unlike the engineer
who lacked the confidence to be great, we should have all of the confidence in the
work that God our Father gave us the playbook on how we should conduct ourselves
daily. God is speaking through the Scriptures. Engage in study often, but more
important, just listen.
Daily Reading: God is speaking through the scriptures
2 Timothy 3:14-17