On Sundays our church is in a series on “Under Pressure”, looking at areas of our lives that cause us stress. Our Sunday morning youth service is all about school… appropriately timed as high school students are starting exams next week. I’m currently completing my Masters of Counselling Psychology so I can completely empathize with any student feeling overwhelmed with 60-70 weeks of school and work and the desire to get the best mark possible. I started this journey to get my masters nearly 3 years ago and have maintained a 3.7 GPA.
But I keep hearing something that doesn’t sit right to me. I have conversations with parents and students who maintain that their school schedules make them too busy to be at church, read their Bible or serve on missions.
As I prepped for our service this Sunday I saw a number of verses in the Bible that do advocate dedication to our studies, striving for excellence and putting a priority on school. However it seemed to me that I could find just as many examples where the wisdom of the world is compared to the wisdom of God and falls up very very short.
Over the next two weeks every high school student will have to dedicate a lot more time to studying than usual, and the temptation will be to say I can’t be at church, and I can pick up my life journal reading in February. However I think a more balanced view would not dedicated 20 plus hours of reading about Math, Science and Music, and not even finding 20 minutes to read about the love of Christ, the promises or God and the truths of the world.
Consider this a gentle reminder about priorities and focus.
God calls us to excellence in all things, including our schoolwork. However remember what Paul (a dedicated scholar himself) wrote to the Corinthians
1 Cor 1:19-21
“For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate. Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. "
And then pray for me - I have a thesis to write (lol)
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