When I read Proverbs 5:12-13 this morning I knew my assignment. “You will say, “How I hated discipline! How my heart spurned correction! I would not obey my teachers or turn my ear to my instructors.”

It’s that time of year when one thing dominates the thoughts, calendars, pocketbooks, and emotions of so many people… Back To School. It was the first day for our grandchildren. The preparation of school supplies, new clothes and having “the look.” Then there were the jitters wondering about the unknowns of the year. “What’s it going to be like?”

Now that Mary & I are retired we have the occasional opportunity to pick up the grandchildren from school in the afternoons. Before I put the van in drive I ask them, “What did you learn today?” Usually, the first response is the look of puzzlement, “Learn?”  After some coaching, they usually recall a math lesson or a story. But the more I think about it, after I spent 12 years in public school and 5 ½ years in college, I never truly grasped the fact, Discovering the “unknowns” is really what school is about. What a novel concept.

In grade school, high school, and college I had teachers that cared for me. They recognized my attitude to “just get by.”  A high school math teacher pulled me up short one day as I entered the room after the tardy bell. “Robert, why can’t you be more like your brother? He wanted to learn. You show up for class late and sometimes you don’t even have your book.” I thought I would never need algebra until I flunked the required algebra course in college. One of my college professors pulled me to the side and said, “You know Robert, if you approached going to school as if it were a job… if you just put in 8 hours a day, you would be amazed at the results.” I thanked him. The next semester I received the consequences of my choices. I flunked out.

Flunking or failing is a reality in life and in God School. The concept of God School came to me while writing “Today’s Good News.” So, what is God School?

I believe when a person gives their heart to Jesus, The Holy Spirit begins the transformational process for us to be like Jesus. That is when we are enrolled in God School. God School is open 24/7/365 days a year. And we do not graduate until we take our last breath. Everything in God School is pass or fail. When I failed God’s pop test or God’s Lab Session (where God’s Word is applied to life) I repeat that course. But God did not kick me out of school. God does not grade on the curve. And the real kicker, He knows everything, even our heart.

God School has a hierarchy of authority. At the top is God’s Word. We are instructed in 1Thessalonians 5:21-22, “but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.” And that test is God’s unchanging Word, not man’s opinion. Unlike other first days of school, we don’t need to go buy new clothes or school supplies. The only book we will need is the Bible.

So, if it’s your first day of school or you are experiencing a “Do-Over”, I encourage you not to just show up for class like I did most of my life, but begin each day with an attitude of discovering an “unknown”… something about our Heavenly Father from His love letter, the Bible.  I recommend beginning to pray Psalm 25:4-5, “Show me Your ways, Lord, teach me Your paths. Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in You all day long.”

The bell has rung! It’s time to get your Book open.

P.S… The artist for the “Little Red School House” is my granddaughter.