It ?s back-to-school time! My kids don ?t share my enthusiasm, but I have always loved getting ready to go back to school. I could live in an office supply store, looking at pens and pads of paper, checking out the latest binders and backpacks. As I grew up, I loved choosing classes and planning for the year.
But for all that planning and preparing, I usually put off my schoolwork until the last possible minute. Early on, I could get away with it. By college, however, my mind had gotten lazy, and the work had gotten harder, and I certainly didn ?t do as well as I could have. Now, I regret not knowing what I had studied just enough to get by.
Are we seeing something similar in churches today? Churches that used to have strong Bible schools now see dwindling numbers and shrinking Bible knowledge. Churches that could count on droves of volunteers now find themselves going to the same scant 20 percent who seem to be involved in everything ?at least until they burn out. But churches still seem to want to be the spiritually vibrant communities they once were.
While we might like the planning and preparation that goes into bridging the gap, we have a hard time of doing it intentionally. Jesus talked about a similar concept in the parable of the talents in Matthew 25. The man who buried his one talent did not use what he was given intentionally. He knew that his master expected a greater return, but his efforts went only as far as to keep what he had, hoping for the best. The master in the parable took away what the man had and gave it to someone else. Is the church today experiencing the same kind of discipline?
This body has a strong tradition of Bible knowledge and hard work. As we prepare for the Master ?s return, knowing what he expects of us, let ?s not focus on simply keeping what we have but on using what he has given us intentionally.