Graduation

What does graduation mean to you? Tomorrow evening I’ll be graduating from Southern Adventist University with my Masters in Ministry and I’ve been pondering what it means. Sure, it means the conclusion to a six-year journey of classes, tests, and homework. It means a little more money in my salary. It means I’m (hopefully) a little smarter than I was at the beginning. But what does graduating really mean? When the examiner handed me my private pilot license six years ago, he told me that it was a license to learn. I think probably the same could be said about receiving a graduate diploma. It’s a license to learn. Education doesn’t end with graduation. School simply gives you the tools you need to continue learning for the rest of your life.

It’s the same with being a Christian. You don’t stop learning when you get baptized. You don’t know it all when you’re elected to a church office or even if you become a pastor. Becoming a Christian is simply a license to learn. So keep reading your Bible. Every time you read it, you’ll see something new. Even the stories you’ve read a hundred times will burst with new meaning as the Holy Spirit delivers a message just for today. This Christmas season, as you hear the familiar story and read the familiar words, “Unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6), bask in the beauty of the plan of redemption. Don’t ever think you know it all. After all, being a Christian is simply a license to learn.