Trust God’s Wisdom

The Promise

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

For a disciple there is always a moment of decision and a time to choose. How could it be otherwise? Sooner or later God beckons us on from the place where we are standing and asks that we go in a new direction. There will be bridges to build and bridges to cross. This could be difficult, demanding and profoundly challenging to us, as we seek to cross the barriers which keep us apart from those God loves and to whom God sends us. We should not expect it to be otherwise. The footbridge reminds us that we will need to travel light. There may be much we will need to leave behind if we are to get to where God needs us. So we carry just the essentials; our trust in the God of loving kindness disclosed in the Bible and met face to face in the risen Jesus, our openness to the presence and empowering of God’s loving energy through the Holy Spirit, and our commitment to participate in God’s life-saving work of liberation and transformation.

Scripture, prayer and action was the way of Jesus, and it is our vocation too. No matter how threatening the weather ahead may look we are called to take fresh paths and to cross new bridges. We always journey on as we become the person whom God longs for us to be and travel to the place of discipleship where God needs us to be. And the sun will shine.

Learn From Christ

Most studies on change agree that displacing a current habit or idea and establishing a new one requires a minimum of about three months. Also, learning studies demonstrate the necessity of consistent application of the thing being learned to ensure its permanent retention. According to a leading learning researcher, people remember:

• 10% of what they read

• 20% of what they hear

• 30% of what they see

• 50% of what they see and hear

• 70% of what they say

• 95% of what they teach someone else

[William Glassner, Control Therapy in the Classroom (New York: Harper and Row, 1986); Reality Therapy: A New Approach to Psychiatry (New York: Harper and Row, 1965).

Simply put, we learn best not by passively hearing and seeing, but by actively “doing” the thing that we are learning. The most relevant question a teacher can ask is, “Are my students learning?” For our purposes, the relevant question must be, “Am I engaged in a process that will result in my being changed from what I am into what I am to be? Am I being transformed into the image of Christ?”

Personal growth comes when we are willing to ask tough questions and then struggle with the answers. Those who abandon the struggle either come to believe that they already know all of the answers or quit caring altogether. Life is not meant to be lived in either of these extremes. Life is an ebb and flow between knowing, learning, and growing. Following Jesus does not alleviate our uncertainty, give us the answer to every question, or enable us to skate through life. But it does make the journey worth facing by tying it to something greater than ourselves. It is in this wrestling that we learn to trust and draw closer to the heart of God.

Resources

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