Let’s Learn to Live

It’s that time of year when all of our young people are returning back to school. This year, however, it’s not the same routine as in the past. There is a greater degree of uncertainty as to how things will turn out, regarding the challenges COVID-19 offers about personal interaction and maintaining one’s health. Will classes be in and out of the classroom, with distance learning, or a computer classroom, playing as big a role as traditional learning methods? Could it end with everyone back home again? It is challenging to consider the possibilities and the part teachers, parents, and students play in the whole process. However, one thing that no doubt will be true, is there will be some way of testing, of evaluating the learning process, to discern what is being gained, of what is lacking, in the learning process, and how to help those who seem to come short of the goal.

This is true not just in the education system, but spiritually as well. As Christians, we all face tests, trials of our faith through the course of our lives (1 Pet. 4:12). We realize, though, there is an ultimate exam where we will be evaluated by the Lord. Paul reminds us, “ For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Cor. 5:10). God will examine us regarding the lives we have lived, whether good or bad. Knowing that our eternity is determined by how we have lived our lives, what can we know about God’s final exam, and how should we live day by day in view of His review of us?

We know that God in Christ rewards His followers in judgment, but not collectively as a group. Instead, we will be judged individually, on how well we have taken His principles and applied them to our individual lives. God will not credit us for the reputation of our congregation as a whole, but rather how each individual member has lived his or her life. Every time we perform a righteous deed with a godly motive, God acknowledges our commitment to Him, our service for Him. “Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God” (1 Cor. 4:5).

God is concerned about how we live, and how we serve, because He wants us to build a life worthy of His eternal reward. We live each day making choices in life, building the house of our lives with materials either of eternal quality or of those things that will not stand. Our day of testing will reveal what our lives are made of, of where we will spend eternity (1 Cor. 3:12-13). Peter wrote, “And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 2:5).

Each of us must make the effort to learn principles in the educational realm that can help us have a better life as we grow and mature. We should certainly want to learn those principles that will help us live a spiritual life that pleases God, that commends us to Him in judgment. Many people know the importance of planning for the future for the here and now; unfortunately, many people fail to store up the heavenly treasures that godly living will produce. Every day we live we’re in God’s classroom, learning of His love, of the life He wants us to live, of both the blessings we can have, or the problems, depending on what we learn and what we practice. May we pass the test life challenges us with each day, in the strength God provides. May we live by His will to have that abundant life, not one that will end in despair. Learn, live, and receive the rewards that come from being faithful in God’s classroom of life.  “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15).

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.”

Robert