Visit the |
Self-Motivated Christian | |
| By Evan D. Baltz, B.S., M.Div | ||
| It is "Back to
School" time. It always brings back memories of growing up in Minnesota and walking
to school with my lunch box in hand. I never was a great lover of school itself, but I did
enjoy learning new things each year. About the time I was in elementary school, something
known as "open education" began to work its way into the various schools. It
basically attempted to have children learn at their own pace, or just on their own period.
They were given goals to meet, but would reach them as they could. It was an attempt to
develop a sense of self-motivation. One problem though. Not too many elementary aged
children are, or even want to be self-motivated learners. So in my school anyway, the
program didn't last very long. What they found was that students actually could learn
faster if they were pushed along a little more forcefully. Self-motivation is fine, as
long as you are a self-motivated person. As I went along in school, I become more and more a self-motivated learner. But it also never hurt to have someone push, and even sometimes, shove me along the way. When teachers held me accountable for my progress, I was more likely to challenge myself to learn as much as I could. The Christian life is much the same. Our spiritual maturity is so important, and sometimes it takes someone pushing and pulling us to enable us to reach personal spiritual goals. But the Christian life is about self-motivation as well. Unlike young children, Christians need to be self-motivated in their personal study of God's word. We shouldn't need to be reminded to pray. We shouldn't have to be challenged to read our Bibles. We shouldn't require constant prompting to seek God's wisdom and will. Oh, a little bit of that will no doubt help, but the point is, we have to take the responsibility for our own spiritual development. What is your mindset? Do you have to be forced, kicking and screaming, into a deeper relationship with Christ? Or, do you truly desire, in your heart, spiritual maturity? Are you a self-motivated seeker of wisdom, or a lazy Christian who needs constant prodding to take even the shortest of spiritual steps? Do you learn on your own, or do you hope that by coming to church once a week you might, through osmosis, absorb what you need with minimal personal effort? The kids are back in school, learning more and more every day. How about you? |
||
