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The Shepherd's Staff
Back to School

It is that time of the year. Summer vacation has come to an end. Students and teachers are returning to the classroom. Parents are again reminded how quickly their children grow up. Pre-K students begin to learn a routine that will be a large part of their lives for the next several years and college students begin the recognize that the rhythm of school and break will soon come to an end. Even those of us who do not have school-age children are impacted by the return to school: remembering our own school experiences and looking forward to what current students will achieve as they mature.

We are all reminded that the cycle of life and learning does not come to an end. There is always more to learn; things we can do to improve our lives and the lives of those around us. This is true in both a secular sense and in a spiritual sense. “Jesus said to [Thomas], ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:6-7). Jesus tells his apostles, tells us, that salvation is not a single act or a simple fact; salvation is a relationship.

What joyful news! This means not only that it is possible for us as humans to have a relationship with the living God, but Jesus informs us that God desires a relationship with each of us. Our relationship with God is in many ways different from our normal human relationships yet this relationship has similarities to our everyday relationships. The key similarity between our relationship with God and with other humans is that both necessitate learning more about the other.

We learn about God by studying his Word. Obviously, this means reading Scripture; praying with the Word of God that has been handed on to us. In studying the Bible, we see that the Word of God is living and dynamic: “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14). Scripture itself tells us that there is more about God than is contained in the text. “But there are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” (John 21:25).

As such, we learn about God by also studying what He has created. The artwork can teach us about the artist; creation can teach us about the creator. Thus, even when our formal classroom learning comes to an end, our desire for a deeper relationship with the One who created and redeemed us drives us to constantly be learning. As the students go back to school, let us all go back to learning what God, the master of all, desires each of us to learn and deepen our relationship with He who is the way, the truth and the life.

Texas Hill Country Magazine

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