Lessons Learned Outside the Classroom

Thank God for seasons of rest following seasons of learning. Even though this fall break is full of homework and studies, not having to be anywhere for two extra days has given me time to relax and refocus. I’ve also noticed that God tends to bring in trials right after learning a valued lesson, so that you’ll be sure and focus on what you’ve just learned, and not forget it as a passing whim. There are a few things happening that are helping me do just that right now.



I think ever since this summer I have been in a spiritual battle of wills… with a little spiritual warfare thrown in just to spice things up (as if it wasn’t hard enough before). But as the saying goes, God doesn’t put more on you that you can handle – especially if you use Him and the tools He’s given as weapons. On the other hand, if you ignore His tools, then Lord have mercy on you…


Before I begin my dialogue that follows, I’d like to make one very important statement… I am sorry for not being “my usual self” the last few weeks (or months). My priorities and mindset were not where they should have been, or where God wanted them, and for that I am sincerely sorry. If you’ve been around me for any length of time recently you probably had noticed my not so uplifting demeanor and I apologize. I believe from this point forward that will change. My mind had been in a hopeless whirlwind of contemplation about too many things to mention and what follows is a partial result of it. God knows none of this is from any intelligence on my part… I am just as blind to my own issues and the greater realities of life as the next person. I simply thank Him for allowing me to form what I’ve been thinking about into words.


So! Without further ado, here is my list of what I’ve learned outside the classroom in the last few months. The first are more general, relating to all believers, the last are more personal, relating more to myself. (Do not skip down to the bottom to read the personal ones, and just skim the general ones… They all relate and without the full picture you will lose the main point entirely.)


1) Your ministry is where you are.


Granted, this doesn’t seem like a very impressive opening statement of realization… after-all, we all know this. It’s been repeated in countless sermons and written in a myriad of devotional books… But there’s often a disconnect between the head and the heart. I knew the above statement was true, I even believed it. However, I had ignored the simple reality of the fact that literally everywhere I go and am located is a ministry; whether or not I am actively “ministering” or not. The mere idea of being polite and kind to a stranger is in its own way an act of ministry to some extent… how often do we forget this little idea? I know I have repeatedly. In today’s society it’s so easy to lapse into a rushed state of busyness in which you forget to even hold the door open for your neighbor. Let’s suppose you do hold that door open, did it take all that much time out of your day? Perhaps 5 seconds… and maybe that neighbor sees your blatant “Jesus t-shirt” and says to himself, “Hmm… maybe there is something to this whole ‘Jesus thing.’ After all, this is the first person to hold a door open for me all day… and they made a point nodding hello as I reached in appreciation… there’s something kinda different about that person…” However, if you let the door slam into their face, they will still see your blatant Jesus t-shirt, but it will be affirmed in their mind that there is absolutely nothing special about Christians whatsoever.


2) Jesus spoke to thousands, had many followers, 12 close disciples; but was very close to three.


Being at a university of this size, and being an eyewitness to many ministries across the board, it has dawned on me: In ministry, we are too often focused on the wrong things. Bigger crowds, bigger influence, larger ministry, larger reach. Numbers are growing! We are expanding! Behold how many people I am influencing… Sure this is all great, I’m glad to see so many people responding to the Good News – but it’s not about that. To be blunt: It’s about our pride. Are we so focused on the numbers we reach that we neglect the smaller crowds we are able to impact in a deep way? Let me ask you this: How many people did Jesus have personal devotion with? It is true that he preached and ministered to tens of thousands, healed and miraculously fed thousands… but out of all his followers, how many disciples did he chose to share some of His most personal ministry? How many went with Him almost everywhere? How many were in the Upper Room? Twelve. There were twelve that were always there, learning from Him. Now let me ask you this, how many did He really, really want to invest in and build exceedingly deep relationships with? How many did He bring with Him to pray separately the night He was arrested? How many did He bring to the Mount of Transfiguration? Three. Let that soak in for a minute… Three souls He chose to build incredibly solid and foundational relationships with. It was these three who saw an even deeper side of Christ. They saw Him like no one else. And these three also went on to do amazing works for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They had been poured into by Jesus like no one else, and they were empowered to do great things in ministry. I’m sure that the thousands Christ preached to, also went on to do good things for the Gospel, but who can argue that they did as much? Let us remember that in ministry, surface level discipleship only gets us so far. You can’t build a mighty tower with a shallow foundation… you need deep and abiding roots that penetrate the bedrock of faith to instill believers who can reach the clouds. All of this being said, I know God does bless large ministries, take the work of Billy Graham for example… thousands have come to salvation through him… so I am not saying large ministry work is bad… BUT, I am saying, that if that is the only kind of ministry you’re looking for, then analyze yourself very carefully, because your pride could be overshadowing your desire to minister to others.


3) Don’t let pride interfere with God’s work.


The previous brings me to my third point, which will be brief because I covered a vast majority of what I wanted to say in point 2. But there is another distinction I wish to make: If you limit what you are willing to do as a ministry, then you are not given completely over to God. I know that sounds exceedingly harsh, but I am not preaching to you, this definitely applies to me as well. If we say that we are willing to go to China, but not willing to go across the street, we are not given over to the call of God. We are merely given over to a fanciful desire to be “one of those people” who goes to great lengths in the name of Ministry, which is ultimately pride of self and a desire that others will be impressed by our outpouring of effort and self-depravity. If we say that we will gladly go to the local homeless shelter twice a week, but feign at the thought of being sent to Germany, then we are simply appeasing the call of Christ and hoping that our personal luxuries are never taken away. Avoid determining in your head what your calling looks like… God will reveal it to you soon enough. There is a very important reason, or reasons, He has not revealed the purpose and plan of your life right now… soon enough you will know why, even though it could be years in the making perhaps. Don’t declare now, “This is what I will do for God!” God may have other plans.


4) God has you in a specific place and situation for a specific purpose in mind.


And this brings me to point 4. Don’t despair of your current situation, position, marital status, educational level, or employment situation. If you have been following God’s leading in your life, (and that is important for you to know) then you are exactly where He wants you to be, right now, even though you don’t understand why. There is a reason you are single, married, interested, or not interested. There is a reason why you have been demoted, promoted, laid-off, or just hired. There is a reason why you are living at home, or are on your own, in another country, or in your home-town. There is a reason you are in grad school, undergrad, high school, or were a drop out. There is also a reason why you are dirt broke, or fabulously wealthy (At this point I would like to insert a somewhat unrelated side-note.. You cannot serve two masters. Either you will love God and not go after money; or you will love money, and not go after God. I’m not saying money is bad, but a great desire for it not good. [Matt. 6:24]) All of this being said… it can be summed up as: there is a reason why you are not where you want to be, but feel like this is where God wants you to be, but you don’t know why. So much of life is like this. Remember, we only see our own little world, and only for a few moments of time ahead of us. God sees eternity, and all of humanity that has ever existed, and will ever exist. He knows where you were, where you are, and where you are going. Believe it or not, but He knew all of this before time began… imagine that. And here we are in our own little bubble worrying about what’s going to happen next… don’t we realize that Someone with far greater ability that our own is in control of all of this? You ask the question, “Why is this happening?” when you should be asking the question, “Why am I worrying?” Don’t play word games and say, “I’m not worried, simply… concerned.” Well most concern equivocates to worry I’ve noticed. It’s hard not to ask the question, “Why?” when bad things happen in our lives, especially when we see no logical reason for their occurrence… but asking “why?” ultimately says that we do not trust God’s judgment or decision making. If we believe that He is in total control, has the entire world and all of life in His hands, then surely we can rest assured as to the future, even when the world seems to be falling apart. Admittedly, this is not at all an easy thing for us to do. Frequently I find myself asking why things happen. Why are so many I love and care for sick with cancer and in great pain? Why do so many people I love neglect their faith and walk away from God? Why do so many people seem to drift through your life, and not stay for the long-haul? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why are children dying of malnutrition and from unclean water? Why this, why that… why Lord? And for many questions we can’t seem to find the answer. But for many questions that I’ve asked why to, I eventually always come to the same conclusion: For a greater purpose than what I am aware of, and ultimately for God’s glory. Like a child that is suddenly and harshly pulled away from a street by their father because of its dangers. We often don’t realize something painful happens to us, to keep us from experiencing something even more painful down the road. Looking back on many experiences I’ve had in life, I can see why God brought some hurtful things into my little world... for my own good, and for His glory. I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for a series of “something bads” that encountered my life a few years ago. If they hadn’t happened, I would be on an entirely different course, and most likely highly dissatisfied with life in general. I am so incredibly thankful for the pain I experienced back then, because without it I wouldn’t be focused on God like I am today. And to use the old analogy of a broken bone… sure, when it breaks, it hurts like mad and you don’t see any good coming out of it. But that break, when it heals, is so much stronger than it was before… and will most likely never be broken the same way again.


5) Life is a speck in comparison to eternity.


This is another one of those phrases we’ve all heard before, but how often does it make the long journey from head to heart? We know that life is short… we see evidence of it on a daily basis. (Just look at illnesses and accidents to name only two). Mentally, we know that this life we live spinning around on a tiny planet called Earth is truly nothing when compared to the eons of everlasting eternity. So this brings up two main points: (A) Why do we make our short, small lives such a big deal? and (B) Why aren’t we doing more to reach the lost?


Let’s examine A. Look at how much effort we exhaust to make something out of our lives. It so often goes back to point 3 and how pride is a master in most of our choices. But if your goal in making much of your life is centered in making much of God, then bless you! Truly living a life that exalts God’s name and fame is indeed worthy of expelling much energy on. Truly this is the main point of life, to give God glory by living honorable and incredible lives devoted to Him. (However, any work to make God famous by using only the flesh will not succeed, so be sure you don’t strive in vain. And like I alluded to earlier, if our goal is to impress other people and hear joyous applause from others, our lives will ultimately lack purpose. Contrary to popular opinion and mass media marketing, we should not live our lives for the delight of others. If our joy is in Christ, in Him alone should we want to hear thunderous applause! And let me be clear, doing great works will not grant you automatic spoutings of adulation from our Heavenly Father. If your heart is in the wrong place, thus goes your reward [Matthew 6:1]. Also remember the elderly lady who gave 2 cents… it was all she had, and Jesus applauds her because of her heart.) Our lives are not meant to be the great defining moment of self-actuation. This world believes that our one life is the magnum opus of all existence, so we better live hard and hearty -- before it’s too late! But those who place their hope in Christ know that eternity awaits them and that this life is merely a blink of an eye. If we remember to keep this in mind, and actually dedicate ourselves to embracing its significance, then little things like backing into light poles and making poor grades on tests, won’t hurt us as much. When little things like stubbing our toes, and big things like death, happen… we should be able to look at it with eternity in mind. If we believe that all things are equal to God, then that too should give us perspective on the chaotic things that impact our world. True, it won’t help remove the pain of unpleasant events entirely, but it will put them in their proper perspective, so that they don’t consume our lives on this earth. And simply because life is short, it does not give us an excuse to do nothing with our lives… God has us here for a reason -- don’t waste it.

Now we look at B. If it is indeed true that there is eternity after death, and that we have two ultimate destinations, Heaven or Hell, then why aren’t we doing more to reach the lost? We’ve already examined how life is short and the unpleasantries of life truly don’t matter. So honestly ask yourself now: “What is keeping me from witnessing to that person I’m thinking of right now?” If your answer is along the lines of: “They will think I’m weird.” “It would be awkward.” “Now’s not the right time, I’ll do it later” or any other excuse in which their opinion or your comfort is a factor… then it is the wrong reason. If life is short, and therefore all uncomfortable things pale in comparison, then what possible excuse could you have? I have been giving myself a myriad of excuses regarding this very thing for years. It’s a natural element of the human psyche that is egged on by satan. The devil would much rather you worry about your comfort zone than talk to that other person about their spirituality. It would fit into his plans quite well if you never opened your mouth to that person at all. So analyze yourself (and I will myself) right now… Are we letting our comfort dictate who hears the Gospel? Are we letting our own feelings interfere with Kingdom work? By all accounts I think it can be agreed that yes, we are. If we let “I don’t want to get in that uncomfortable situation” persuade our actions in regard to evangelizing those we contact on a daily basis, then my friend let us pray for mercy. I do not mean that in a threatening way, but surely God is not pleased when His children retreat in fear of becoming uncomfortable. Remember the armor we have in Christ as mentioned in Ephesians: We have armor on all sides, except the back… because in God’s design, He is there giving us strength and pushing us forward. If we retreat, our back is bare to the enemy. So, from today I hope to never retreat. I admit that I have in times past due to the fear of rejection or experiencing that 10 seconds of “awkward” we all know and hate. This is one of those things that I will have to reaffirm in myself on a continual basis… I pray you also will take the initiative to never let your personal comfort interfere with evangelism.


6) I have learned I am very relational; am a relational learner


Now we come to the bit that is definitely more personal. Perhaps you won’t be able to relate to this section, but I hope it will go a long way into your understanding of how I relate to others. I have learned this year I think for the first time, how relationship oriented I am. I knew I greatly valued family connections and genuine friendships. But little did I know I related to perfect strangers in much the same way – (which also gives me a set of potential problems to be wary of that I won’t go into detail here.) This summer while on mission I learned that I communicate to others that I care for them by how I relate to them in action, speech, and touch (such as pats on the back, strong handshakes, and hugs when appropriate). That verse that says, ‘I have become all things to all people’ caught my attention this summer. I realized I was taking on subtle behaviors of those I was ministering to as a way of showing that I understood where they were coming from and could appreciate what they were saying. My speech accommodated itself to their lingo, (to a certain extent), so that they could read me on their page. I had no idea before this summer how much I did that… but in all the cases in which I did do this, it was as if open doors of communication occurred. Hear me – I was not mocking, or overtly putting on airs of “I know where you’re coming from,” because all people can see through that like glass and will turn to ice as you try to speak with them. But I was simply meeting them where they were, and letting them know that I genuinely cared for them in a way that God has given me. I didn’t really know I was doing it at the time, but looking back, it’s plain as day to me. And as I stated in the point title, I am also a relational learner. This semester has been the roughest-going of my short college career and I now know why. First let me say that last semester I had made a point of making a connection with virtually all of my professors, some more than others. (I now know this goes back to how I relate to people in general.) But little did I know that through this relational connection to who I was learning from I gained energy for the material that I was learning. Don’t hear me incorrectly, the people did not make me more interested in the material, but it provided a springboard for wanting to go above and beyond in my studies of the material. An amazing result of this was that I also made very sincere friendships with a few of these professors, one of whom has become my mentor. But this semester, I had made a decision before the year began to not make that relational connection with any of my professors… because I had seen this connection somewhat and feared that I was simply wanting to please others, and that I should refrain from making this sort of relationship connection lest I be misunderstood by them as just wanting to “please the prof.” Plus, let’s face it… it’s very hard to maintain relationships of deeper learning with other people…. It’s not easy to constantly make a point of interacting with others so as to continue a dialogue or continue a conversation. There were moments when it was even awkward to keep making a connection point… but by the end of the semester it was a mutual interest in learning in which I was greatly appreciative. Please hear me when I say I had no intention of that being the outcome… It was just what I knew to do and the results were what they were, and God blessed me with like-minded faculty. (Here I insert my plug for the LU profs I had, they are awesome). But this year, as I stated, I have refrained from making any learning relationships whatsoever… thus I have had almost no connection to the material, thus I have had no interest because I have been viewing life as “it’s too short to put out the effort anyway.” Plus I was swayed too much by their and others’ opinions of me. Thus, instead of taking active interest in the words coming out of my professors mouths, I had been in a state of not caring because I related to material via the person communicating the information. I look at the rest of my life and I see how this is true for virtually everything! It’s somewhat disturbing I haven’t realized this connection before. If you think about it, it makes sense… Information from the police you receive with respect and authority, information from your grandmother you receive with feelings of happiness and comfort. So often we relate information and weigh it in perspective to the person giving it. So from this point forward I’m going to do what comes naturally and not give a notion to the opinions of others in that regard; and I’m going to once again enjoy the opportunity to create a running dialogue with my professors. But this got me to thinking… How do I evaluate information that I receive from God through His Word? Authority, respect, joy, reassurance, love, confirmation, conviction, fear and awe… all of these are relayed to me because of my love for God. If, God forbid, I ever lose my love and fear for Him, then so goes my respect for His Word. This makes me all the more aware of how important it is that I keep in constant communion with God to maintain that relationship and keep it solid and purposeful in my life.


7) Live life well – good and faithful servant.


Finally, we come to the final point… and no, I had no idea there were going to be seven points… I’m not talented enough to be that symbolic… but it is rather nifty I must admit. And this point is a summation of everything I’ve stated above capsulated in a nice little package. Live life well. Do not get carried away with things that distract you in this world. We are only here for a limited time, and we do not know when our journey here will end – but God knows, He says our days are numbered. So don’t worry with what you are going to make of your life, God will make it for you. On the other hand, don’t fritter away your life with trivialities and time wasters that put God’s name to shame and cause non-believers to doubt our sincerity to live for His glory. All of life is a delicate balance. Do not be consumed with doing good works for God as this often leads to a prideful heart. God will use you when you are ready, make your aim to serve Him however He sees fit. Have an open heart and an open mind to His calling… if you are so determined to do only one thing for Him, chances are you doing it in the flesh and He will not bless it. Remember that little things go a long way in ministry. Often little actions we take in someone’s life that we hardly remember will mean the world to the person we did it for. God has you in situations for specific reasons, use them for the Kingdom’s advantage, and do not waste the opportunity to change the world that is around you. Fear not about the future, for God has all things under His control. He’s either created, or allowed, everything that has happened, and though we may not understand it now, when we reach the other side of eternity all will be revealed... if at that point we will even care. And who knows, maybe just a few years from now you’ll understand why everything that has taken place in your life has happened. Do not give up hope. And it is true that this life is short, so make the most of it! Do not simply say, “Ahhh… life is short, therefore I do not care what happens.” No! Think, “Life is short, therefore I will make a point of giving God has much fame as possible to let as many as I know realize how great He is while I have time on this earth!” Keep in mind that God sees the heart, not the actions… so use your heart well and guard it from pride, envy, people’s approval, or your own self-gratification. Always remember above all else that God loves you and has a great plan and purpose for your life in all situations, no matter what they are. Strive to seek God’s face, not His hands – His presence, not what He can give you. And live with this goal in mind: To hear Him say once you’ve reached the other side: “Well done, good and faithful servant.”




Now that I’ve gotten all of that out of my head and down on paper… well, virtual paper… it’s amazing how much less I’m thinking about. But one thing I am thinking about is this, and please, please, hear me when I say this: I don’t know anything. Don’t read this and think I think I know it all – because I don’t. I’m simply going through this life trying to figure things out just like everyone else…. looking to a Greater Authority for help. I know for certain that I do not hold any great answers… Only God does. And the only way to hear His voice is through His Word, through prayer, and through the Holy Spirit interceding on your behalf through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as your Savior. If you don’t think you have that kind of relationship with Christ, please email me. (acmb.galatians220@gmail.com). I would love to talk with you more about Him. He’s the greatest Person you’ll ever have the honor to meet and go through the rest of your life and eternity with.