Back to school… Those three words can bring about so many emotions. I remember as a kid, this time of the year made me both happy and sad. I couldn’t wait to get to school and see all of my friends. And I was excited to find out who my teacher was going to be each year. But… it also meant the end of summer, the end of lazy days, swimming and sleeping in.
One of the things I wish I had been more excited about, was that I had the opportunity to learn. As a kid, and far too often as an adult, purposeful learning has not been a priority in my life. But it should be.
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” -Dr. Seuss
Learning is the opportunity to grow. We can grow in knowledge, we can grow in skill, we can grow emotionally and we can grow spiritually. Specifically, in our relationship with God.
One of my favorite sermons that I preached a few years ago was out of Hebrews 5: 11-14: 11 We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. 12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
In true Johnny fashion, I had cool props. I had a table on the stage with various foods laid out across it. Starting with milk, then baby food, a happy meal, pizza and finally a steak dinner. I had someone come up and sit at each place and eat the meal in front of them as we talked about how that meal corresponds with a point in our spiritual walk.
The overall point is that we should never stop learning
We should never stop growing
By Johnny Brown, Youth Director