Next Step Navigator / Receive Teaching Weekly
Next Step Navigator / Receive Teaching Weekly
Receive Teaching Weekly
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To become good at any skill, trade, or profession, you've first got to be a student. If you want to become great at anything, you'll remain a student—always learning, practicing, and improving. This is especially true in our walk with Jesus as anywhere else.
Choosing to be a student is not natural.
Why? We (think) we know what's best for ourselves… and we really don't want to take any more pop quizzes.
Receiving weekly teaching is a keystone to spiritual growth. God wants to teach you and continue to teach you, and your participation is necessary to learn how to become more into who he made you to be.
While it may not consist of sitting under fluorescent lighting and being shushed every seven minutes, becoming a student means that you're willing to:
- Admit that you don't have all the answers
- Open yourself up to new ideas (that'll probably challenge your own)
- Place trust in someone other than yourself
It takes bold faith and lots of humility to move past our desire to be right. But when you allow yourself to be taught, you end up further down the road (much faster than you could imagine).
God loves it when we look to others to receive teaching and truth.
Jesus embraced teaching early in His life.
"After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions." - Luke 2:46
As Jesus grew, he never stopped learning. He made it a habitual spiritual practice to visit the synagogue with his community to learn from teachers, eventually becoming one himself.
"He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read…" - Luke 4:16
Learning from a teacher is a practice that Jesus passed down to his disciples. Since the beginning of the church, people have met regularly to receive teaching. It brings power through a shared experience, a common ground for discussion, and a path towards growth.
"And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching." - Hebrews 10:24-25
There's no 'one size fits all' approach to being a student.
There are lots of ways to receive weekly teaching (find some ideas below), but at the center of each of them is a divine discontent that spurs us into action. There is always more to learn, more ground to be covered, and more ways God is looking to bend our lives around Jesus (Romans 8:29). One of the most effective ways to do that is to take (and maintain) the position of a student.
Luke Skywalker had Yoda.
Harry Potter had Dumbledore.
Po had Master Shifu.
Harry Potter had Dumbledore.
Po had Master Shifu.
They weren't perfect teachers, but they were experienced and wise, with lessons that led their students into places they'd never have gotten on their own.
That's the power of being a student who receives weekly teaching.
There's a lot of great teaching available, but here are some resources to get you started:
Attend a small group or Bible study
Find a mentor and meet regularly with them
Engage in the daily scripture on the Crossroads app and learn from the scripture journals of others
