Reflections on Sending Our Students Back To School
Each August brings a big day for many of our students. The first day of school yeilds feelings of both excitement and anxiety. Several of our students are entering into their last year of public school before they go off to college. They are excited about senior privileges; parking spaces, graduation photos, college applications, and completing the work that will lead them to their graduation day. Others are starting over at a new school with all of the fears and expectations that accompany that process. Part of me wants to go with them, not just because I enjoyed my days in school, but because I genuinely want what is best for them. While I cannot get on the school bus with them (nor would they want me to) that faithful morning, my prayers will go with them.
When the Apostle Paul was writing to the church at Ephesus, from his prison cell, he had this same sort of concern. He wanted to be there with the congregation, but could not. So he wrote to them the prayer that he had prayed over that small congregation. The prayer that is found in Ephesians 1:17-19 points out three things from Paul’s heart that he desires for the Ephesians.
First, he prays that God would grant to them a "spirit of wisdom." Wisdom is of short supply in our culture, because it does not come from textbooks, television, or sound moral advice. This wisdom comes only from God through His Word. It is precious - in that it is received from the Holy Spirit as we allow the truth of Scripture to settle into our minds and change the way we think. I have great confidence and expectations that our students will carry this sort of wisdom with them into the classrooms tomorrow.
Along with this, Paul prays that they would gain "revelation in the knowledge of [God]". That is, a clearer picture of who God really is. This is the fuel that feeds true worship. I hope that they will see God at work in the environment that He has placed them in and that this will cause our students to worship God with more fervor than ever before.
Lastly, the prayer includes the phrase that "the eyes of your heart may be enlightened." I think this is Paul’s way of praying that the Ephesians will begin to have a heart for the same things that God does. I have seen this in our students already, that they have begun to see their friends as God sees them and will in turn carry the love of the cross to them so that they too may know, as Paul says, "the riches of His inheritance." Back to school consists of more than books and the smell of new clothes – it is a mission field…and my heart goes with them.
Each August brings a big day for many of our students. The first day of school yeilds feelings of both excitement and anxiety. Several of our students are entering into their last year of public school before they go off to college. They are excited about senior privileges; parking spaces, graduation photos, college applications, and completing the work that will lead them to their graduation day. Others are starting over at a new school with all of the fears and expectations that accompany that process. Part of me wants to go with them, not just because I enjoyed my days in school, but because I genuinely want what is best for them. While I cannot get on the school bus with them (nor would they want me to) that faithful morning, my prayers will go with them.
When the Apostle Paul was writing to the church at Ephesus, from his prison cell, he had this same sort of concern. He wanted to be there with the congregation, but could not. So he wrote to them the prayer that he had prayed over that small congregation. The prayer that is found in Ephesians 1:17-19 points out three things from Paul’s heart that he desires for the Ephesians.
First, he prays that God would grant to them a "spirit of wisdom." Wisdom is of short supply in our culture, because it does not come from textbooks, television, or sound moral advice. This wisdom comes only from God through His Word. It is precious - in that it is received from the Holy Spirit as we allow the truth of Scripture to settle into our minds and change the way we think. I have great confidence and expectations that our students will carry this sort of wisdom with them into the classrooms tomorrow.
Along with this, Paul prays that they would gain "revelation in the knowledge of [God]". That is, a clearer picture of who God really is. This is the fuel that feeds true worship. I hope that they will see God at work in the environment that He has placed them in and that this will cause our students to worship God with more fervor than ever before.
Lastly, the prayer includes the phrase that "the eyes of your heart may be enlightened." I think this is Paul’s way of praying that the Ephesians will begin to have a heart for the same things that God does. I have seen this in our students already, that they have begun to see their friends as God sees them and will in turn carry the love of the cross to them so that they too may know, as Paul says, "the riches of His inheritance." Back to school consists of more than books and the smell of new clothes – it is a mission field…and my heart goes with them.
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