Learning from Jesus
“Learn from Me.”
Matthew 11:29 (NIV)
We’ve just completed a three-week journey learning to pray every day. Way to go! A disciple is a learner. We learn best by association. Someone once said, “More is learned through living than through lectures.” That was the classroom for Jesus’ disciples. They learned from Him through their association with Him. Their classroom was life. They observed how Jesus lived in relationship with His Father. He showed them how to live, how to pray, how to be men as God intended man to be. Seminars, conferences, and bible study classes are wonderful, but the greatest truths you will learn will always be in your association with Christ. That’s why the first invitation in this passage is “Come to Me …” in verse 28. When we come to Christ, we begin learning the unforced rhythms of grace. I love the way The Message paraphrases Matthew 11:29-30. Imagine this as the classroom for the disciples – for you and me today.
“Walk with Me and work with Me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with Me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."
Jesus is more than a teacher. In his classic devotional My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers said, “If Jesus Christ is a Teacher only, then all He can do is to tantalize me by erecting a standard I cannot attain. What is the use of presenting me with an ideal I cannot possibly come near? I am happier without knowing it. … I must know Jesus Christ as Savior before His teaching has any meaning for me other than that of an ideal which leads to despair. But when I am born again of the Spirit of God, I know that Jesus Christ did not come to teach only: He came to make me what He teaches I should be.”
Have you come to Jesus Christ like that? You’ll never learn from Him how to live freely and lightly until you do. And when you do, you’ll discover that the greatest learnings happen in a community of faith. God never designed us to live in isolation. It’s unhealthy and makes us an oddity. We’re not called to be “Lone Ranger” Christians. Even the Lone Ranger had Tonto. With whom do you connect and share your journey of faith? This is the benefit and blessing of a church family and a Life Group. The Bible says, “People learn from one another, just as iron sharpens iron.” Proverbs 27:17 (TEV) Some of the greatest truths God has revealed to me were in church and small group gatherings with fellow Christ followers. If you’re not a part of a Life Group, I encourage you to join one this Fall as we kick-off hundreds of new Life Groups with an exciting new six-week Bible Study by Pastor Kjell Axel Johanson on Staying with God – learning to think like a Christian in a weird world. You can find out more at wc.org/lifegroups and experience the joy of learning together.
Another important part of your daily devotional is spending time with God in prayer. The Woodlands Church Prayer Board lists prayer requests submitted by our members and provides a way to send them some encouragement by using a button on the page to let them know that you prayed for them. Whether you use the Prayer Board, or pray from your heart, the goal is to build the habit of incorporating prayer into your quiet time.
Need prayer yourself? Let us know by submitting a prayer request on the Woodlands Church Prayer Board.