Lessons from School..!

So, I just realized that I’ve been in school 5 months and I have yet to write about what I am learning in school. I’ll just give a couple thoughts on my past 4 classes and what I learned through them:

1) Developing Christian Excellence –

“Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life..!” Isn’t this the truth? When we are doing something we love it doesn’t seem like work. That is how I feel about my ministry in Argentina. I absolutely love doing full-time ministry. This does not mean it isn’t difficult at times, but it doesn’t feel like work to me.

“Attitude makes a world of difference… it doesn’t matter what you are doing..!” There are a lot of things we can’t control, such as our circumstances, but we can control our attitude. We can choose to look at things positively; we can choose to love people regardless of what they do to us. Our attitude can resolve conflicts, change the future, it can work miracles.

2) Pentateuch –

I’m not sure I could summarize all I learned through studying the first 5 books of the Bible. Let me tell you it was the first time I have read them in order within such a short period of time and I absolutely loved it. God was the center of each of these books. He is the Creator, He is in control of all situations, He is to be worshiped and obeyed. Nothing was able to thwart His plan of redemption. Finally, so often we think about “The Law” as being something negative, keeping us from doing what we enjoy but in reality “The Law” is good. God doesn’t just want obedience to the letter of the Law, but He wants our hearts to conform to it and as we obey it we become more like Christ.

3) Bible Study Methods –

I could share the techniques I learned about how to study the Bible but in this class I learned more from actually using these techniques to study the Bible.

After studying Psalm 1 this is the application I came up with.

Who do I go to when I need wisdom? God’s word which is full of life-giving wisdom or what the world teaches as truth. Do I spend time meditating on the word of God allowing it to nourish me? Am I firmly rooted in my faith or easily persuaded by men’s teaching?

Being single in this day and age is quite the challenge. Especially when going onto the mission field. I am often faced with many questions such as; when are you getting married? Are you ever going to settle down? Don’t you want to get married? I have many people giving me advice on how to get a guy; flirt with them, dress in a way to catch their attention, approach them and ask them out. It appears that our identity is based on whether or not we are in a dating relationship or married. If I was to dwell on the comments and advice from others I would get discouraged. I could become like a friend of mine who wanted to get married so badly she got involved with the first guy who showed her some attention. She ended up in a marriage that failed, unhappy, lonely and wondering what went wrong. My other option is to look to God and allow Him to fill me up. Even the Apostle Paul speaks on this theme saying that it is better to remain single, if you are able to, because it allows to you have more time to serve God. I am not saying that I don’t ever want to get married or that I am called into singleness but I can trust in God and that He will provide for me in every area. I can obey Him and seek after His kingdom and serve Him being content with what I am doing. When I spend time in His Word I am greatly encouraged and the thoughts from others goes in one ear and out the other because I am holding onto God’s truth. God is good and He is enough for me.

4) Gospels –

There is so much one can find while reading the Gospels. I was amazed about how all four of them are about the life of Jesus yet John’s Gospel is completely different than the others. There was so much that Jesus did that each of them chose information that was most important for their audience.

Here are a few of my thoughts as we studied:

Ø Whatever the Religious Tradition you follow – if it interferes with actually keeping what God commands, it is unprofitable..!

- How often do we allow our traditions become more important than obeying God? We complain about changes going on within the church, changes that are based on tradition without realizing that our complaining is disobedience to God and causes a Spirit of disunity.

Ø I think one of the most important things as I study the Gospels was the confirmation I felt over and over that this was the path God has me on. People think it is easy to leave behind my family and go overseas but that is not true. It is not easy, but God promises blessings for those who put Him above their family.