I’ve recently (the past year or so) felt that God is trying to equip me to fulfill His plans. I wish I could be more specific in describing those plans but they remain quite mysterious at this point. Although, time after time the perfect resource has been placed in front of me, constructing a foundation of thoughts and ideas in me about the perfect educational environment. I’ve been blessed with a passion and desire to research this path.
2 stumbling blocks in this journey of God driven enlightenment I’ve encountered:
- Desiring the glory for myself: The holy spirit was adamant that this must turn into a passion for bringing glory to God before anything would move forward. “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God” (2 Corinthians 3:5).
- Anticipating God’s plan: I think I’ve minimized the capability of the Holy Spirit by thinking I know what God wants to do. When our personal desires take priority we are again bound to our personal abilities separate from God. Galatians 5 describes this freedom we have in Christ, “the only thing that counts is a faith expressing itself through love.”
We can find the following point stated in many different words by many different people but The Purpose Driven Life makes it quite clear. “He (God) says, ‘My thoughts and my ways are higher than yours,’(Isaiah 55:9) so he often acts in ways that are the exact opposite of what we expect.”
So if we go back to Seth Godin’s precept: “Lean in, back off, but don’t do nothing,” I think God can be quite successful with us when we intently seek his will (Lean In), but don’t anticipate or limit his power (Back Off)!
We can live free in Christ when we don’t trap his Spirit in the confines of the worldly and fleshly limits.
Right now I don’t know where exactly this exploration is headed, but it’s exciting because this journey is not being directed by my meager ambitions. While reflecting on the path I’ve travelled described here, I realize this is a great example of how powerful inquiry-based learning can be. How can these ideas be applied in creating the perfect learning environment for our kids?
Ryan Hershey see my blog at
www.faithandeducationcollide.blogspot.com
www.faithandeducationcollide.blogspot.com