For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. (Heb 5:12-14 NAS)
Labor Day weekend is the last hurrah for families getting away before school starts again. The new normal from the summer is a familiar start. I hear consistently from teachers that the 2 1/2 month break does not do students any favors in terms of learning retention. Teachers often spend the first month re-teaching students those key lessons that they should have mastered the previous year (and forgotten through the summer) if they are going to move on to the next educational plateaus.
September is also a way of reminding us that spiritually we need to engage and possibly re-engage things we had been learning last year and need to refresh if we are going to move to a new level of our faith and walk with God. Sometimes the summer causes us to get sloppy and lazy; sometimes we just lose our way. Other times we have been hurt and angry so we do things to spite others. In any event, we have taken a break from key disciplines that help us keep in step with God. September can be a bit of a buzz saw, a launching pad into the year (at least if you have kids) and it sets up a schedule for you if you don’t have one already.
What I like about the school year is that it gets us back to a new normal. The structure of life is locked in and it is much easier to connect with people because the pace of life has most of us grounded. However, we are responsible for our own growth – the Body of Christ is there to encourage, equip, train, support, and walk alongside us; but we all have to take responsibility for our own walk with God. Ultimately we have to deal with the issue, not someone else. Sometimes we have forgotten things we used to do by instinct; we have drifted from the rich grace that God extends to us.
My encouragement:
1) On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being non-existent; 10 being fantastic) how would you rate your walk, passion, and service for the Lord right now?
2) Wherever you mark your current reality, are you willing to take personal responsibility to move from where you are now to pressing on towards your walk with Christ (e.g. if you ranked yourself at a six, what would you need to do to move towards being a seven)? What is one thing you need to do to grow your walk with God over the next couple of months? What changes do you need to make or become stagnant? What will move you to a greater love for God?
As we get back to the basics and the new normal what is your responsibility to move forward in your walk with God?
Pastor Brad
