Back when I was 47 years old and still in the corporate world, I was driven to my knees in an effort to find a better way to lead our company. Janet and I prayed about it and we decided that I should attend seminary. After all, I had tried my way but I needed a better model and so I concluded that I need to learn the way that Jesus led His disciples and to study what I could learn from Him. That led to almost 10 years in seminary and an entirely new way to look at leadership and how to re-establish myself in the corporate arena.
At first, I figured that I would maybe pastor a church, but that was not to be. I ended up back in the corporate life and consulted to Christian CEO’s and others who were looking for a better way to follow the example of Jesus. It was a great way for me to follow my passion of teaching while also impacting the kingdom for Christ.
I have been teaching a home Bible study since 2000 or so and also teach the Soul Sisters, a local group of ladies who attend our church. In fact, I am an honorary Soul Sister! I also assist our daughter, Kristin, in teaching her young adult classes at her church from time to time. But it is about our daughter, Jill, That I am writing tonight.
Several years ago, Jill joined the Soul Sisters and has really taken to learning about the Bible in greater detail than ever before. She has become a real student again and has made a commitment to read the entire Bible in chronological order. While I have read the Bible several times and have, in fact, taught every book of the New Testament and most of the Old Testament, I have never undertaken this effort in chronological order.
While I am proud of Jill to grow her relationship with Christ through her study time in the Bible, Jill has taken to calling me with numerous questions she has since she started her studying. While many of these questions I have had asked of me before, and can handle with relative ease, I have found that as Jill gets deeper in the Scripture, her questions get more and more complicated.
I have come to the point that I have to periodically admit that I don’t have the answers at my fingertips and that I will have to go back, study the passages in question and then get back to her. Some of her questions are a result of her chronological reading plan. If she sticks to a certain book, or is looking for input on the reason for Paul’s writings or John’s writings, I have some confidence that I can handle most of those. That’s because in seminary, we studied Biblical theology, not necessarily chronological history within the Scriptures.
And I must say that I can see some value to the way that Jill is trying to piece together her studies. She asks profound questions and it is becoming more difficult to furnish comprehensive explanations to her about the more obscure parts of God’s Word. I was thinking about how I have to up my game, and admitted to Jill that I had to study harder to help her when she reminded me that “iron sharpens iron.” How appropriate. I was thinking the very same thing.
One thing about Jill is that she is very committed to accomplishing something once she sets her mind to it. She’s been that way her entire life and it shows! Another good point is that she doesn’t argue – she might question or even ask for clarification, but she doesn’t push a point when she realizes that she doesn’t have the core knowledge or information to be able to defend her position. I admire that about her. The consummate student who wants to learn and grow in her relationship with God.
I know that I am something of a tough audience in church listening to a sermon. Some time ago, I told Jill that “words matter.” She clearly took that to heart because she now parses things the same way I do. On one hand that is a little scary, but after all, I have taught her for her entire life. And it shows. And… it has helped her immeasurably in her study of the Bible. You just can’t read the Bible in a casual way – every word counts. It takes discipline to study at that level.
Tonight’s verse is from Solomon’s book of Proverbs. Solomon was considered to be the wisest man who ever lived and he tells us, in Proverbs 27:17, “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of a friend.” (KJV) That’s for sure! My encouragement this evening is that God wants us to help one another learn about Him. The more we study and seek Christian counsel, the closer we will be drawn to the Father and His Son. My prayer is that we will always be interested in studying God’s Word and thereby get to know Him better. After all, we have all eternity to spend with Him. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…