A Call to Higher Learning

Labor Day weekend passed in a blur for me much like the rest of 2010 so far.

With certain sadness, I’ve resigned myself to the notion that Labor Day signified the end of summer.  Back to school time.  Though I was actually jolted from my summer malaise a few weeks earlier when local Wal-mart stores posted district student’s supply lists next to shelves bearing an endless cache of  spiral notebooks, pink erasers and Number 2 pencils.

The symbolic bell rang in August for most Colorado Springs families.  Some parents wiped tears when, for the first time, they let go of their 5 year-old’s hand, standing under a “Welcome to Kindergarten” banner.  No doubt other parents cried Hallelujah as they transported adult teens to college dormitories and secretly counted down the final minutes initiating their empty nest years together.   I would imagine most parents were somewhere in the middle.

In my home there are four students.  My older son and his beautiful bride are both college students. My younger son is a Sophomore in High School. 

I always look forward to Back-to-School night, meeting and talking with the teachers and coaches who will be shaping the mind of my son for the coming semester.   The best teachers are the ones who encourage students, the ones who communicate a sense of “you can do it”.  Those teachers inspire confidence and motivate students to want to succeed because someone believes in them, expects the best of them and holds them to a higher standard.    I’m blessed to have met several of those teachers at my son’s school. 

I’m even more blessed to have that kind of teacher myself.  I mentioned four students in my home.  I’m the fourth.  Yet, unlike the other educational pursuits under my roof, my learning will never cease.  I am a student of Jesus Christ. 

Matthew 11: 29 shows the words of Christ when he said, “Take my yoke upon you and learn of me…”

Jesus knows the lessons I need to learn because He knows me intimately.  My course of instruction is designed specifically for me.  Even better, there’s no Calculus, or engineering classes to drive me NUTS!  God promises to keep it simple for students like me. 

Jesus said in Matthew 11:30, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Coming from Kansas farming roots, I used to think the yoke was the kind that bound field animals together.  I’ve since learned the yoke referred to in this passage was a collar worn around the neck by rabbinical students.  Their yoke publicly identified them not only as a student but it also declared whom they were a student of since it bore the name of their Rabbi/teacher. 

When a Rabbi agreed to accept a young Jewish man as a disciple, the disciple-to-be agreed to totally submit to the absolute authority of the Rabbi.  Because this was something every devoted Jewish male aspired to, each disciple eagerly approached the relationship with a posture of submission. 

To wear the yoke of a particular Rabbi publicly proclaimed complete surrendering of the disciple’s life…actions, thoughts, attitudes, beliefs…to the Rabbi’s interpretation of Scripture.   From dawn to dusk student shadowed teacher drinking him in as an elixir.  So intent were students to mirror their Rabbi they often even mimicked eating habits, posture, facial expressions, mannerisms and vocal inflections.

Most compelling to my inquisitive nature is how learning took place through persistent questions and answers.  Either the student would ask a question based on observations in the Rabbi’s life or the Rabbi would raise a query about something he had observed in the student’s life.  The goal of the Rabbi was not to impart cookie cutter formulas to religiosity but to lead the student to develop a spirit of discernment.  Ultimately the disciple would learn from the Rabbi how to interpret Holy Scriptures for application in all areas of his life in order that he might live a life honoring to God.

As a student of the Great Rabbi…Jesus Christ…I am specially chosen by Him, invited to wear a yoke bearing His name. Much like the rabbinical students of Christ’s time I am best positioned to learn when I am in a posture of complete, radical submission to my Teacher, surrendering all my actions, thoughts, attitudes and beliefs to His careful instruction.  My Teacher is not threatened by my questions.  On the contrary, He encourages them.  My lessons are intended not to give me some 3 step formula to religiosity or piety but to lead me to discern God’s Word, to apply it to my life in such a way that brings Glory & Honor to Him.

I don’t have to jump through hoops trying to look and sound and express myself as a mirror image of my Teacher.  God accomplishes that in me by the power of His Spirit transforming me from the inside out.    

Ironically, in Christ’s economy we may exchange our “Labor Days” for Learning of Him, and in so doing we find REST. 

 “Come unto me all you who Labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” ~Matthew 11:28

Burning Questions: Burn a Koran Day

Plans by a tiny Florida church to stage a public burning of 200 copies of the Koran is drawing a great deal of media attention, much of it denouncing the plan. 

Surely I am not the only American who believes that members of Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, FL have as much right, under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, to burn the Koran as Muslims have to build a mosque at “Ground Zero”.   Surely I am not the only one to concede that both are incredibly insensitive & wreckless and will continue to ignite extreme emotion on both sides of the radical Muslims vs. America debate.

What I want to know is where was all the media outrage when the U.S. Military was rounding up Bibles in Afghanistan and burning them?

https://livin4jesus.wordpress.com/2009/05/05/by-the-book-us-militarys-justification-for-destroying-bibles/ 

A Season of Waiting

Our summer garage sale concluded, my teen helped me drag unsold items back inside the garage.  Holding up a heavy winter coat he’d outgrown, my son turned to me with a puzzled look & a shrug.  His comical expression said it all.  Nearly 90 degree heat had been oppressive that day and before the words “what were you thinking?” could escape his lips, I cut him off. 

“Hey, winter is coming.  Somebody’s gonna need a warm coat soon.”

Later in the week I was walking and praying for the umpteenth hundred time about a longing of my heart.  It was a specific request I’ve repeatedly prayed over the course of several years.  I was tempted to fuss at God and ask what was taking so long. 

I wanted to tell Him, “If you’re trying to build character in me, I’ve been told by numerous folks that I have PLENTY.”

My request wasn’t a selfish one.  It wasn’t even predominantly about me.  Furthermore, something in my spirit told me that the Lord had not said “NO” to this petition.  I even felt led to continue to present this specific request to Him.  Still, I wondered aloud, “Lord, if you’re not saying NO, then what’s up with this lengthy delay?  A little clarity would be nice…” 

So many other times in my life I have prayed and had either an immediate answer or a definitive closed door.  Clearly this was not one of those times.  The door was not closed, God was not telling me to move on and forget about it.  I didn’t even get a sense God was annoyed with my repetition as if I was pestering Him.  In fact He had shown me on other occasions what I am seeking is in accordance with His will and is close to His heart.      

I’ve often said that, for me, the most frustrating pairing of two words is “wait patiently”.  I suppose no one likes to wait.  That morning on my walk I caught an image of the Lord putting my request…and my waiting…into perspective.

My mind wandered back to the garage scene with my son and then it hit me.  My petition to God was the equivalent of asking for a coat in the heat of summer.  All this time, in the heat of life’s circumstances, I had been ignoring the obvious.  This was not the right time for the fulfillment of my heart’s longing.

God wasn’t saying, “No, I’m not going to give you what you are asking for”.  He wasn’t even disagreeing with me that I would need an answer someday.  Just like asking for a coat in Colorado…anyone who’s ever experienced the Rocky Mountains in December knows it WILL get cold enough here to warrant a coat.  Eventually.  I wasn’t asking for anything out of the ordinary.  But my timing was waaaaay off.

My loving Lord gently whispered to me regarding my petition,  This isn’t the right season.  He knows a time will come when granting my request will be more appropriate.  Until then, God simply says, wait and be patient.  

 “Wait on the Lord; be of good courage.  He shall strengthen your heart.  Wait, I say, on the Lord.” Psalm 27:14

 “My soul, wait only upon God for my expectation is from Him.” Psalm 62:5

 “Turn to God, keep mercy & judgment and wait on God continually.” Hosea 12:6
 
So often we think we know best what we need, and when we need it.  We take our petitions to God and ask him to sanction our desires and grant our requests as if He is some Holy Vending machine.  Of course, being deeply spiritual, we would never verbally describe God that way.  But our attitude betrays us.  We figure if we are following God closely, listening for His voice & obeying His directives, He will be more likely to give us “the desires of our hearts”.  That’s Biblical, right?
 
Not exactly.  When God says, “Delight yourself in me and I will give you the desires of your heart,” the translation has more to do with God gifting us with desires than it does granting fulfillment of those desires.  In other words, it is God who stirs in us to desire in the first place.  We desire peace, in the Middle East, in our home, or in our heart.  We desire a promotion at work…or a job just to make ends meet.   We desire a runaway child to return home or a wayward spouse to repent.  We desire a ministry or good health or someone to love us or any other of a million desires we may have in a lifetime. It isn’t that those desires are bad.  It’s simply a matter of asking in due season.  
 

God, the Giver of all good gifts, is not going to give us a coat in the heat of summer.  His timing is perfect.  He knows that often we need time for life’s circumstances to cool off a bit before we can receive what we are asking of Him.  I don’t know about you but if someone presented me a coat in the midst of a heat wave, I’d probably be foolish enough to wear it, then complain about being very uncomfortable.  Better to wait for God to move in His time, when the season is right.

 “For you have need of patience, that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise” Hebrews 10:36

 “I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined unto me and heard my cry,” Psalm 40:1

 “Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him…”  Psalm 37:7

Indeed, I am resting in the Lord.  Even so, as long as God is not closing the door on my heart’s longings, I will continue to dialog with Him about them, asking in faith.  If His reply remains “WAIT” I will wait a bit more patiently than before.  After all, winter is just around the corner.