This season of life, for any age group, reminds me of final exams. Most schools allow a few days between the end of a semester of teaching for extra study before the comprehensive exams begin. Usually, grades for the semester include tests, quizzes and papers throughout the weeks of teaching. These help focus on learning parts of the information, like bricks used to make a building. The final exam pulls all the information together to make a whole.
As followers of Jesus of Nazareth, we are all students, or disciples, of our teacher. (Isaiah 30:18-22) Our learning never ends. Our wisdom grows as we spend time with Jesus. (John 1) We learn to hear His voice. (John 10:27) And because Jesus and the Father are one, (John 10:30) they are the source to learning their ways.
Relationships are crucial to learning. We learn from Jesus and we learn from those around us. Spending time in the Word, listening, dialoguing, in community, with other disciples in different places on their journey of faith, all play a part.
Personally, I am old enough that I have learned these lessons a few times before. In spite of that, as I go around again, this time I am learning more than I have before. The difference is the weight of the lessons in this season feel more important. The earlier tests and quizzes were important, but now it is really serious. It is like a final exam that has a higher percentage of my grade than ever before. It’s more like pass or fail, than just influencing part of my grade.
Take some time soon to read all of Matthew 24. It speaks of where we are and where we are headed. Please discern for yourself, but I believe we are especially in v 4-8. Societal shaking has reached new levels. Outside of the US, France and Australia are experiencing riots over forced lockdowns. Worldwide sickness has caused changes in every country. Current events in Afghanistan are indescribable, that is if one is able to hear on the ground reporting. The ramifications of the happenings there will be felt for years, or longer. But God! With all these upheavals, more people are asking about God. The global end time harvest mentioned in V 14 has started. Let Habakkuk 3 speak to you. I invite you to read it all, but the end is here:
17 Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in theLord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
19 God, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer’s;
he makes me tread on my high places.
Abba, may we take advantage of this season of life is to really learn, and internalize, the lessons we thought we knew. We refuse to be motivated by fear, but rather we are inspired by Your infinite love for each one of us.
Great reminder!Thanks.