A Serious Student
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
2 Timothy 3:16-17
I made my way to the room where we have gathered every Sunday morning for many years. In the past we called it Sunday School, but for some reason that is outdated terminology now and we call it family group or small group. The name is different but the gathering is the same. A small group of believers who love God and love each other gather weekly to study His word, pray and love on one another.
This Sunday morning I was quick to recognize something was a little different. There in the midst of our normal circle was a desk, which Kevin had claimed as his own.
He sat behind the desk like a serious school student. I greeted him with “Hello,Teacher.” He was quick to make it known he was not teaching but just found the desk to be convenient and comfortable.
As everyone was greeting, laughing and talking, Kevin joined in, but he never left the desk. He had positioned himself as a student ready to learn. Patiently he waited with his Bible spread open and his lesson notes close by. His wife leaned in to read the word with him and I caught a picture of a beautiful thing.
It stirred a deeper longing within me to be a student of God’s word. Sometimes it’s just what we do on Sunday morning. We gather in small groups and then attend the worship service.
But what if we took a different approach?
Questions flooded my thoughts distracting me from the actual teaching going on in the room.
What if we showed up as true, serious followers of Jesus Christ longing and hungering for His word?
What if we treasured His word and dug deep into it?
What if we came to His word for more than just a quick word of encouragement, but treasured it as the textbook for real life?
Just then the teacher posed a serious question that God had asked him the past week.
“Do you really love My word?”
He didn’t ask , “Do you read it or memorize it or post it?” He asked, “Do you really love God’s word?”
I fear that we all approach God’s word quite casually, for the most part. If we believed it to be what it says about itself I think we would pull up to a desk and position ourselves as a student.
Hebrews 4: 23 says:
“For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.”
Living, Alive, Active, Powerful!
Thankfully, we can turn to God’s word for comfort, peace, direction, wisdom and so much more. But do we come to His word as a serious student? Do we approach this living book longing to receive powerful life-changing truth hidden within?
A disciple is a follower and a learner. When Jesus extended his great invitation to the weak, weary and burdened, He said:
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:28
In other words, if you will come and follow me and learn from me, I will teach you all things. He is the teacher and I am the student. Oh, that I would posture myself to be a learner, a student of God’s word.
I recognize the resistance within as I have begun a new Bible Study with our Touching Hearts group. The workbook causes me to dig deeper and answer questions. Social media has trained us to love the short, quick quotes and postings, but there are treasures to be found in the study of God’s word. A new desire is rising within causing me to want to pull up to a desk and dig into the depths of God’s word that I have never known
Lord, stir a hunger within us to know your living word.
I don’t want to live by cute quotes and little pieces of scripture cut and pasted to suit my life. I want to know Your word.