What Have You Learned From Others?

          This past week our students concluded their series entitled We.  Here is a snapshot of this series, “In following Christ, there is one truth that most of us forget--we were never meant to do this alone. We need other people. It's critical not just because we need friends, but also because in community we understand more about who God is. We see how He is working in other people's lives. We learn things that God has taught them, and we get an opportunity to love and serve others. The WE series helps us discover the "WHY" behind community--why we need it, why we should pursue it--and why it's more than just what you do every week after a communicator speaks.”

Each week includes a discussion question/point that our parents and their students are encouraged to wrestle through together.  The third week’s discussion question reads as follows, What have you learned about God from other people in your life?

                I once sat in a college classroom where a professor led a discussion about how God reveals Himself to people each day.  We discussed this topic for several classes looking at how God demonstrates His love to us through creation (nature), conscience (mind), and circumstances (situations).  There are several ways that God makes known His presence to us as these three highlight just a snapshot of the revelation of God that we can see each day.  For me personally, I wrestled with these thoughts as a college student who couldn’t totally comprehend, nor can I now completely, how God utilizes these various means to communicate about His character to us as His children. 

            After thinking it I realized that many people can find/experience God in nature.  How many times have you simply been alone in the woods, looking up at the stars in the sky, or simply laid in the grass and experienced God?  For me, I remember being a child who would climb our television antenna and lay on the roof for hours.  Why?  Because there was peace and calm up there that allowed me to relax and feel as though there wasn’t a care in the world.  Secondly, is the area of our mind.  God created our minds as a complex set of several components that enables us to think and reason unlike other mammals.  As a student, I realized the need for my brain to be stretched and to have my thinking challenged.  This is simply another way that God manifests Himself to us as we study and learn more about Him. 

            Finally, we got to the issue of circumstances/situations, which for me was the most evident as a college student.  I often times could see how God was working in the lives of other people through their actions, words, and responses to the issues that they faced.  I always longed for God to work in my life in the same manner, helping me to grow spiritually, only to discover that He already was.  It took just a small amount of time for me to stop and look at my life and see the way that God has used other people in my life to further my understanding of His love for me.  There were pastors who poured into my life to see me grow as a Christian.  There were youth workers who saw gifts in me that I didn’t even know that I had and challenged me to develop them.  There were professors who helped me understand the working of the Holy Spirit in my life through the gaining of knowledge.  There were students who challenged me to become a better youth pastor so they could grow in their faith more.  There were parents who longed for resources to impact their students in a deeper way for God’s Kingdom.  God has been working in my life for a long time and through several situations, but I had never stopped to see how or where God was working.

            As you look at your own life today, what have you learned about God from other people in your life?  For me, I have been challenged by others to look for God more every day.  Personally, I have learned about God’s love from other people through their extension of forgiveness to me.  I have learned about grace from other people who love me despite my shortcomings.  I have learned to trust God when other people trust me and confide in me.  The list could go on with the number of things that I have learned about God from other people.  So as you examine your own life, what have you learned about God from other people in your life?