For this week's Olympic game we played "Move if..." Raquel Smeenge was the Champion
One of the greatest lessons that my dad taught my brother and me growing up was always keep on improving. If you are not as good at basketball as the good players just keep on improving. In the game of basketball there is always something that you can be getting better at—whether it is working on plays, getting quicker, becoming a more skilled passer and ball handler, or having a more fluid shot. If you will simply improve each week you will eventually pass up those who are better than you now.
Trees are a fascinating plant that teach us a valuable lesson about life. Trees grow until they die. When a tree stops growing it dies. God is calling us to grow until we die. If you’ve stopped growing then you are spiritually dead. If you are just staying in the same spot, you’re not getting better at reading your Bible on a consistent basis, you’re not praying more, you’re not sinning less then you are dead. It is time to start growing and improving.
How do you grow and improve? You must become a great learner. The Greatest Learner in history was Jesus Christ. From his life we discover four laws of a learner that he applied to his life that we can use to become more effective learners.
Jesus was a listener. In John 8:26 Jesus says that he listens to everything his Father tells him and obeys him. With school and friends in your neighborhood that do not know God it is sometimes difficult to listen to God. You have so much homework to do, so much music to listen to, games to play, friends to IM, mySpace—so much noise! All this noise tends to drown out God’s voice. It distracts us from reading the Bible and listening to God’s voice. Jesus experienced the same problem we face—constant noise. How did Jesus cancel out the noise? The Bible tells us multiple times that Jesus went to the Mount of Olives, a place of solitude. The Mount of Olives overlooks Jerusalem. Jesus would go here on a consistent basis and talk to God. If we are going to become great listeners we must go to a solitary place, away from distraction and seek God.
In “One Month to Live” Kerry Shook gives us a great analogy of metamorphosis. Metamorphosis is when a caterpillar changes into a butterfly. What happens? The caterpillar creates a cocoon and changes from the inside out. It actually grows wings. It doesn’t find a pair of leaves and glue them on it’s back. It actually becomes a new bug. “How does one become a butterfly?...You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar” (Trina Paulus). In other words, we must stop moving and “Be still and know that He is God” (Psalm 46:10). If we are not able to sacrifice our agenda to get alone with God we will never learn because we fail to listen to God.
Jesus also walked in humility. Jesus knew that he could do nothing apart from God. Humility is the ability to constantly improve. Those who are humble always improve because they realize that they need help and are willing to admit that they can’t succeed without God and others.
Jesus trusted the Teacher. Jesus trusted God. He knew God was in control. He knew God’s way was best. In school, if you do not trust your teachers’ knowledge of the subject they are teaching you probably are not going to listen to them and do what they tell you. We must trust the truth that God’s way is best so that we can learn from him. Our growth will be stunted if we fail to trust the Teacher.
Finally, Jesus learned to pick himself up. When you fall… get up. When life is tough and you get knocked down… get up! When your teammates mock you get up! When you mess up in life get up! A learner gets up when he falls, makes a mistake, or gets knocked down. In one of my favorite all time movies Chariots of Fire, Eric Liddell is racing at the Olympic trials and on the first curve he gets shoved off the track. Rather than giving up, Eric jumps to his feet and runs down the leader to gain the victory. Eric Liddell refused to give up. He learned to pick himself up when he got knocked down. Winston Churchill said, “Never give up. Never give up. Never ever give up!” We can’t give up! God has too much for us to accomplish. When Jesus walked the hills of calvary carrying his cross did He give up? Quitting was never an option in his mind. Every time He got knocked down he got up. Jesus loved you so much that every time he got knocked down he saw your face and decided I must get up for him for her.
What was it that enabled Eric Liddell to get up, to see the race to it’s end? The final race in Chariots of Fire is Eric Liddell at the 1924 Olympiad in Paris. As Eric sprints in the last 150 meters he thinks back to an earlier scene when he was talking to his sister Jenny: “Jenny, I believe that God made me for a purpose…but he also made me fast!... What is it that enables a man to see the race to the end? It comes from within!” What was it that Eric Liddell had that enabled him to pick himself up when he fell and see the race to its end? It was Who was living inside him. 2000 years earlier Jesus had already run the race. He had been knocked down but had gotten up and won. Now Jesus was running with Eric every step of the way. I’m here today to simply say that you can do it! You can win this race because Jesus Christ lives in you!
Ryan Austin
Element Youth Leader
