I won’t say all, but probably
most adults can look back on their school years and wish
they had appreciated
them more. Rare is the student, although they do exist, that does not long for
their school days to end so they can “do as they please.” Then they arrive in
the real world.
For many, school brings back
pleasant memories, and for others the memories are most unpleasant, to say the
least.
Many adults look back on
school and say to themselves:
·
I wish I had
studied harder.
·
I wish I had not
missed so much.
·
I wish I had had
a better attitude.
·
I wish I had not
been such an idiot.
·
I wish I had been
more mature.
·
I wish I had
listened to my parents.
·
I wish I had paid
attention in class.
·
I wish I had been
friendlier.
·
I wish I had not
cheated and had actually done the work.
·
I wish, I wish, I
wish.
So many youngsters don’t
realize that the purpose of going to school is to be schooled; i.e. to learn.
To be schooled is to be trained,
instructed, educated, disciplined, taught, tutored, drilled or coached. The
only words coming from the vocabulary of some though are words like; party
time, class clown, goof off, etc.
Do you know that God sends
His children to school? None of us have actually graduated, but some have done
well and others have done poorly. The exception of course is Jesus. That’s
right, even Jesus as the Son of Man, who is God, went to school, and He is the
only one who graduated. Before and after Jesus began His ministry He lived by
one rule; i.e. “Not my will, but Thine be done.” He always did the Father’s
will. Can we say of ourselves that we at least occasionally do the Father’s
will?
Our Father in Heaven has a
plan for our lives.
“For I know the plans that I
have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to
give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11)
By His Spirit He will guide
us in glorifying His Son. In the Christian Academy of Life only true Christians
are admitted, and in this school of life we are expected to mature as one of
God’s children. Some of us will excel as did Daniel. Some of us will be slow
learners as was Hezekiah. Some of us will often fail as did Aaron, but whatever
God has planned for us, we can rest assured that He is always there for us.
“The LORD will protect you
from all evil; He will keep your soul. The LORD will guard your going out and
your coming in From this time forth and forever.” (Psalms 121:7-8)
If your or my child fails in
school do we disown the child? Of course not! Before I go any further, I want
you to understand that if you are God’s child and you are failing in your life,
He will never ever disown you. He may discipline you, but He will never remove
you from the Heavenly family and He will never give up on you.
The desire of our Father in
Heaven is that all His children succeed, and success is measured by, “Not my
will, but Thine be done.” None of us will ever graduate as Jesus did. Only the
Son is perfect, but He wants us to do well. We are even provided with His
Spirit as our own personal Tutor.
Most Christians today are
very much like the goof-offs we saw in school who never carried a book and
never paid attention in class. They already knew it all (so they thought) and
now are on the “I wish” list.
When in school we had to
carry around and actually study language books, math books, science books, etc.
The Christian has one text book. It is called the Bible. The Bible is the very
Word of God and the instructor (teacher) is God the Holy Spirit.
Unfortunately for some
Christians they think they already know more than God so their Bible sits over
in the corner somewhere collecting dust. Then there are others who indulge in
the opinions of man but forsake the absolute Truth found only in the Bible. There
certainly is nothing wrong in reading books written by man, but we should never
do so at the exclusion of the Bible.
My personal advice to fellow
Christians is to read the Bible every day, making certain it is the main course
of every spiritual meal. Do not compare the Bible with what someone says, but
compare what someone says with the Bible. The opinions of man are often helpful
in our spiritual growth, but they can sometimes be harmful to us.
Every Christian is attending
God’s school until the day he or she goes home to be with the Lord. Life is all
about lessons God wants us to learn and responsibilities He wants us to
accomplish.
“But one and the same Spirit
works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He
wills.” (1 Corinthians 12:11)
In First Corinthians chapter
twelve the Lord is telling us through the apostle Paul that He has different
responsibilities for each of us in His Church. We are all different and have
different gifts He has supplied to us. In considering this maybe we should
consider where we are on that path. Are we growing or stuck in neutral? Either
way, we will do well in God’s school if we just live by the following Scripture
passage.
“Trust in the LORD with all
your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge
Him, And He will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)
Grant Phillips
Email: Phillip5769@twc.com
Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com
Rapture Ready: http://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html
