We are two weeks into the fall semester and today toward the end of my sixth lecture in Psychology 101 a young man put up his hand and asked, “How much of this do we have to remember?” After I caught my breath and my head cleared I responded, “Ah, like all of it.” I sometimes wonder what goes on in their heads. They pay really good money for each class. They come without their books. They come without anything that would help them take notes. If there is a video they sleep. It drives me nuts.
“Aha,” I think. “This is how frustrated God must get with us.” He provides us with an abundance of great study materials. We have the Gospels and the letters of Paul. Do we do our daily reading? We sleep through church because it isn’t nearly as exciting as our favorite action television program. We rarely take notes when we do read Ephesians or the Sermon on the Mount, which can be very challenging. I hear the very same excuses from adults as to why they don’t have enough time to study as I do from my students. So I guess I better be patient with my students just as God is patient with us. I do so much want them to learn and God so much wants us to learn. No wonder Paul wrote to Timothy, “Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
Written by Roger Bothwell on September 8, 2008
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org