Follow your training schedule

“And don’t be wishing you were someplace else or with someone else. Where you are right now is God’s place for you. Live and obey and love and believe right there.” (1 Corinthians 7:17, The Message)

It’s so easy to look at someone else’s life journey, especially one that looks appealing in some way, or has something we wish we had, or is a little further along the road than we are, and wonder if we’re on the right track. To be clear, I am not in any way advocating that there is more than one way to heaven. Jesus Christ is The Way, the only way. What I’m talking about it is the particulars for this journey each one of us makes. God has crafted a training schedule that He’s lovingly personalized and tailored for each of us. The creative nature of our heavenly Father guarantees that each of our pathways will be unique, just as every fingerprint, every snowflake, every life story is distinct.

There was a student who turned in an assignment to his professor. The professor carefully examined the work, noting the excellence of the endeavor, attention to detail, and diligence which had been applied. “But,” he hesitated, “this was not the assignment I gave you!” No matter how well we do something, we won’t be fulfilling God’s plans for our lives if we end up doing someone else’s assignment. We all long to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant” – so let’s endeavor to do what our master has entrusted us to do.

Maybe we know what God’s specific assignment for us is. Maybe He’s made it clear to us. I’ve had some seasons like that, where I felt like I could confidently strike out because God had shown me what to do. But I’ve had plenty of other seasons where I felt at a loss as to what the next step was. What then?

When we don’t know what to do, the Lord tells us to “seek Him”, “stand firm”, “wait quietly”, and “remain faithful to the things you have been taught.” At times of indecision, we need to resist the temptations of fear, impatience, presumption, or trying something new for the sake of newness.

We have nothing to fear – if God is for us, who can be against us? The enemy loves to spin the lie that we’re missing out on something if we follow God. That is simply not true. God is good and all He does is good. Anything we do out of fear cannot simultaneously be done in faith. Faith says “I trust You, God”; fear tries to take control.

We must combat the urge to impatiently push ahead and “do something” just for the sake of activity or to keep up with someone else. If we’re supposed to take the number 9 bus and yet out of impatience get on the number 8 bus, obviously we’ll end up at the wrong destination. It’s hard waiting patiently for good fruit to grow in the lives of our children because any seeds we plant take time to grow and develop. God tells us to prepare the soil, plant good seeds, and nurture and water the seeds. The growth and fruitfulness are up to Him.

We are walking on perilously thin ice when we act presumptuously. There are so many beautiful promises of God – we don’t need to make up new ones or try to make things happen in our own strength.

Something new might be exciting but not necessarily the best choice. Much of our modern advertising depends on this “new and improved” idea. Just because something is new doesn’t make it a good thing. Let’s be sure we’re not doing something just because of the latest trend or fad.

We need only to seek the Lord, stand firm, wait quietly, and remain faithful to Him and His word. He will bring us exactly what we need at precisely the time we need it, whether revelation, reason, rest, resources, or relationships. Just because we can do something doesn’t mean we should. Jesus said that “only one thing is needed” – sitting “at the Lord’s feet, listening” (Luke 10:39, 42). When we’re in that posture of peace, expectantly waiting, God will make our way clear. His training schedule for each one of us is always best.

#homeschooling #homeschool #home #school

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