I won’t say all, but probably most adults can look back on their school years and wish they had appreciated them more. Rare is the student, although they do exist, that does not long for their school days to end so they can “do as they please.” Then they arrive in the real world.

For many, school brings back pleasant memories, and for others the memories are most unpleasant, to say the least.

Many adults look back on school and say to themselves:

• I wish I had studied harder.
• I wish I had not missed so much.
• I wish I had had a better attitude.
• I wish I had not been such an idiot.
• I wish I had been more mature.
• I wish I had listened to my parents.
• I wish I had paid attention in class.
• I wish I had been friendlier.
• I wish I had not cheated and had actually done the work.
• I wish, I wish, I wish.

So many youngsters don’t realize that the purpose of going to school is to be schooled; i.e. to learn. To be schooled is to be trained, instructed, educated, disciplined, taught, tutored, drilled or coached. The only words coming from the vocabulary of some though are words like; party time, class clown, goof off, etc.

Do you know that God sends His children to school? None of us have actually graduated, but some have done well and others have done poorly. The exception of course is Jesus. That’s right, even Jesus as the Son of Man, who is God, went to school, and He is the only one who graduated. Before and after Jesus began His ministry He lived by one rule; i.e. “Not my will, but Thine be done.” He always did the Father’s will. Can we say of ourselves that we at least occasionally do the Father’s will?

Our Father in Heaven has a plan for our lives.

“For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

By His Spirit He will guide us in glorifying His Son. In the Christian Academy of Life only true Christians are admitted, and in this school of life we are expected to mature as one of God’s children. Some of us will excel as did Daniel. Some of us will be slow learners as was Hezekiah. Some of us will often fail as did Aaron, but whatever God has planned for us, we can rest assured that He is always there for us.

“The LORD will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul. The LORD will guard your going out and your coming in From this time forth and forever.” (Psalms 121:7-8)

If your or my child fails in school do we disown the child? Of course not! Before I go any further, I want you to understand that if you are God’s child and you are failing in your life, He will never ever disown you. He may discipline you, but He will never remove you from the Heavenly family and He will never give up on you.

The desire of our Father in Heaven is that all His children succeed, and success is measured by, “Not my will, but Thine be done.” None of us will ever graduate as Jesus did. Only the Son is perfect, but He wants us to do well. We are even provided with His Spirit as our own personal Tutor.

Most Christians today are very much like the goof-offs we saw in school who never carried a book and never paid attention in class. They already knew it all (so they thought) and now are on the “I wish” list.

When in school we had to carry around and actually study language books, math books, science books, etc. The Christian has one text book. It is called the Bible. The Bible is the very Word of God and the instructor (teacher) is God the Holy Spirit.

Unfortunately for some Christians they think they already know more than God so their Bible sits over in the corner somewhere collecting dust. Then there are others who indulge in the opinions of man but forsake the absolute Truth found only in the Bible. There certainly is nothing wrong in reading books written by man, but we should never do so at the exclusion of the Bible.

My personal advice to fellow Christians is to read the Bible every day, making certain it is the main course of every spiritual meal. Do not compare the Bible with what someone says, but compare what someone says with the Bible. The opinions of man are often helpful in our spiritual growth, but they can sometimes be harmful to us.

Every Christian is attending God’s school until the day he or she goes home to be with the Lord. Life is all about lessons God wants us to learn and responsibilities He wants us to accomplish.

“But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.” (1 Corinthians 12:11)

In First Corinthians chapter twelve the Lord is telling us through the apostle Paul that He has different responsibilities for each of us in His Church. We are all different and have different gifts He has supplied to us. In considering this maybe we should consider where we are on that path. Are we growing or stuck in neutral? Either way, we will do well in God’s school if we just live by the following Scripture passage.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Grant Phillips

Email: Phillip5769@twc.com

Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com

Rapture Ready: https://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html

I remember as a child watching scary movies such as Frankenstein, The Werewolf, Dracula, Bride of Frankenstein and The Mummy, just to name a few. Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney, Jr. never ceased to hold my attention as a young boy.

The scariest movies though of that time, at least to me, were those where a lady is in a place all alone, maybe an old house. As she walks through the darkness, you know the monster is going to reach out just any second and grab her. Meanwhile the tension builds as he comes up behind her. As a youngster, you can hardly stand it.

Writers of that day were experts in scaring us with what we could not see. Today, these movies are so tame; they could be used as a sedative for most people.

Have you ever thought about what scares you more than anything? Most of us have probably thought about this, and the answer for most people may be that thing called “death.” Let me say before I go any further that I don’t think death is the scariest thing for us to face … for a Christian that is. Now for an unbeliever that’s a different story, but an unbeliever can be saved, if they just trust in Jesus while they are living.

When I was in school being called to the principal’s office was certainly scary. That’s why the smart ones behaved ourselves and avoided that area.

I can remember talking during the church service and my parents saying, “Just you wait ‘til we get home.” Another is when my Mother would say, “Just you wait ‘til your Dad gets home.” Now those times were attention getters and quite scary.

I can’t imagine how scary it must have been for our soldiers on D-Day, or for any soldier to face the guns and bombs of the enemy.

There are many things in life that can scare us until it seems our blood runs cold. Sometimes they are via movies, but we know they are not real. Other times, real life grabs us by the throat with wake up calls like cancer and other horrible illnesses.

Let me now state what I think is the scariest of all for any person to face. In my opinion, an unbeliever who has grown so cold toward God their conscience is seared is the scariest of all. The Lord Jesus said through the apostle Paul when he wrote his protégé Timothy that:

“The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.” (1 Timothy 4:1-2 emphasis mine)

Can anything be scarier than having no desire to know Jesus? A person who has come to this point in their life has sealed their doom. There is nothing to look forward to but certain eternal judgment in hell.

Notice that Paul is speaking specifically of “hypocritical liars” who have reached this point in their hearts. Their hearts have become so cold, so hard; they have no desire for Christ. Is that to say that this only applies to this select group? Not really. For any man who has no desire for Christ is a hypocrite and a liar.

If there were ever a group of people who could be called the “walking dead,” this would be the group. Is there any hope at all for anyone who has reached this point in their lives? Yes, I believe there is hope. I believe that any person can be saved if they will call upon Jesus in this life, but here is the rub. Will they do so? Have they allowed themselves to become so cold and calloused they will never have any feelings for God but hate and/or indifference?

The thing about salvation is that Jesus is a perfect gentleman. He will not force Himself upon anyone. He has done everything possible to provide the only way to be saved from a devil’s hell, but now it is up to each one of us to come to Him individually to be saved.

Death is something each one of us must face alone. However, Jesus waits for the believer on the other side of death’s door, but the only thing waiting for the unbeliever is the judgment of hell. The same is true with salvation. We must make that decision, for or against, all by our self. No one else can die for us, and no one else can decide for us about Jesus.

I and anyone else who has put their faith in Jesus as their Savior can rest on the following Scripture passage.

“The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” (1 Timothy 1:5)

How can we have a good conscience toward God? We have a “good conscience” toward God because of our faith in Him, knowing He cannot lie. We wholly trust Him and want to live for Him.

“In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;” (Titus 1:2)

If you will believe in Him, you too may have a good conscience, because you have rested your trust in Him. However, if your conscience has been “seared as with a hot iron,” fall on your knees today and ask Him to melt that stony heart. Why?

To reiterate, it is true that God’s grace can save anyone right up until they die, but every time we say no to Him our heart gets harder. It may get so hard we reach the point of no return. Each time one refuses the Holy Spirit’s call, it gets easier, and easier to do so. The heart and conscience become so hardened, so numb and so past any feeling, there is no going back. Eventually, God may pull away His convicting Spirit and leave one to his own ways.

“Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.” (Romans 1:24 emphasis mine)

“Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.” (Romans 1:26 emphasis mine)

“Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.” (Romans 1:28 emphasis mine)

There is nothing scarier than having a heart with no feelings, a heart that is stone cold. It may seem macho to you, but you are a fool. You are insanely begging for the judgment of Almighty God to fall upon you.

Call upon Him today, while you still can.

Grant Phillips

Email: Phillip5769@twc.com

Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com

Rapture Ready: https://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html