Love for Learning
A Call for Every Disciple
As school has started, I’ve been reminded of how important learning has become to me. When I was a kid, I didn’t care much about school or learning. I liked school well enough. I remember my first favorite teacher in elementary school, Ms. Bauer. I continued to connect well with various teachers, including everyone’s favorite in high school, Mr. Waldron, the history teacher who got just about everyone to care about imperialist China, the historical development of the U.N., and comparative governmental systems. I enjoyed memorizing and performing speeches for my Speech and Debate class, and I liked writing. I did well enough with grades. However, despite all of that, I cared little for learning personally, and I didn’t appreciate the value of education. It wasn’t until I took the class “German History and the Jewish Question” with Dr. Berryman in college that I was really shaken and developed a passion for learning. That class caused me to question everything and began my search for a foundation for morality, a search that eventually led me to faith in Jesus Christ.
I had the privilege of preaching at the Woodward Christian Academy on their first day of school this year. They have a service before classes begin. I’ve preached to them a few times in the last year. I did my best to impress on them the vital importance of being a good learner. Quoting from Jesus’ words in Matthew chapter 11:29 - “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” - I told them that learning is at the heart of faith in Jesus and following Him. In fact, learning from God as our most immediate and ultimate teacher is an idea found all throughout the Bible. Psalm 32:8 expresses God’s desire beautifully: “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.”
God doesn’t just desire to teach us. He promises to teach and lead us personally with his eye on us. Yet, even with the promise of such a warm and intimate learning relationship with God, there comes a warning in the next verse, verse 9: “Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you.” God commands that we learn from him and know him. If we are not learning from him, we will unavoidably learn from other sources, knowingly or unknowingly. If we do not heed his voice, he will either yank us back to him or leave us to follow the path of destruction where it leads. I would much rather be an eager disciple of Jesus than be yanked like a dumb beast of burden.
And so, I called those children, as I call you, to be good lifelong learners. Learning the way of life and righteousness from God isn’t necessarily the same as learning math or history, but good education will inevitably become a companion to learning from the Lord. The same muscles that must be developed and trained in pursuing knowledge in education are required of us in learning from God. All truth is God’s truth, and learning of every sort can and should lead us to greater delight in the beauty and majesty of God and the good creation made by the Lord of light.
We must be insatiable students of the Spirit of truth who brings us into all truth. We can and must find delight in learning, and the well is infinitely deep in our infinite God. We can learn endlessly about the Bible, the church, prayer, and so much more. More important than learning information, we can grow closer to God, knowing him ever more deeply who promises to walk before us with his eye upon us. So, “Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord. his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.” (Hosea 6:3).