The Formula

November 18

Some of us can still rattle off formulae that we learned in science class decades ago. We haven’t used them because our lives have not required the kinds of information they contain, but they are indelibly stamped upon our minds. Undoubtedly, even when we have trouble remembering our names, we’ll be able to recite ‘the formula’!

Realistically speaking, there is very little of the information that we have studied so hard to master that will actually be required of us during our lifetime. Certainly, we shall apply pertinent facts to the jobs we perform, but most of the things our high school and college teachers required us to know are simply irrelevant to our adult lives.

One area of study, however, becomes more important as we get older. There is a verse in II Timothy 2:15 that says, “Study to show yourself approved by the Lord; a workman who needs not be ashamed because he rightly handles the word of truth.” Isaiah 28:10 tells us that, “Precept must be upon precept; line upon line; here a little, there a little…” as we gather the understanding of the knowledge of the Lord.

Unlike the lessons of our days as students in school, our lessons that we have learned at the feet of Jesus must be taken into our hearts and nurtured there. As Solomon stated so eloquently of the Lord’s truth in Proverbs 3:1, 2, “Do not forget My teaching, but keep My commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity.” Such lessons are well to be learned!