This week I've had to use a lot of my knowledge about the Bible in different situations, in and out of class. I've been trying to peacefully keep the Bible respected in class, and in that I really needed the abiding of the Lord, or else I would have gotten nowhere, stuck in arguments, perhaps. In the situation out of class, I just had to answer many questions about the Bible. Yet it is the out of class situation which scared me. I don't want to be known as the person who just knows a lot about the Bible (and I don't know a lot), but as a person who loves and is filled with Christ. I don't want to know a whole collection of facts or meanings without having the real Person--Christ Himself. If I read the Bible without the Lord, I would not be able to experience as much of Him. I am also afraid of pride, as many times knowing a lot of things brings in a lot of pride as well. But for all things I say, I pray that it is Christ in me who speaks. As for this week, if I have been too prideful, I am glad I can now just turn to the Lord and confess to Him. "[W]henever their heart turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away...and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." Praise the Lord!
I know that sometimes in school, I am looked at differently because I believe in God and believe in Him deeply. Although school does not allow any discrimination because of that, I can still feel the apartness sometimes. Yet this apartness could also be the Lord's sanctification in His word. I do love His word, and I do not want it to be maligned in any way, because it is precious to me. Sometimes it's hard to stand up for the Lord among others, but the Lord sanctifies us. Don't take this wrongly, school is going fine. I just experienced something this week, and I know myself, that I don't know how far I could stand up for the Lord in front of my peers if they start talking about Him in a purely intellectual way. Yet I should just give all this to the Lord. I really enjoyed the verse in 1 Thessalonians: "Always rejoice." Rejoice!
This week has been both normal and eventful. I am pretty much fully used to school now, but many things still come up unexpectedly, and each day is surprising in many ways. Yet the Lord has given me the peace to go on this week, even in all things and through all surprises. It's not an extraordinary feeling, just a calm flowing peace in me. The situation is still there, but I could go through it with Him. This is a wonderful experience, to experience the unruffled peace of Christ. With this peace I don't at all have to be troubled or afraid. Instead, I feel quite rested. I hope to experience Him more in this way.
This week of school has been interesting. I am slowly getting used to my new teachers and classmates, but I still miss my old teachers, so I visited them. The amazing thing is, two of my old teachers who were most excited to see me also talked about the Lord in some way to me. It is amazing how much joy I felt in the presence of these two teachers when we talked. In English this week, my teacher asked us to write the answer to a question in our journals--"What is truth?" I immediately thought of this verse while answering that question. I know that one of the two teachers I talked to is a believer of Christ, and the other I now suspect is a believer as well. Perhaps that's why we felt joy and freedom while we talked together, even after a whole summer of not seeing each other. The truth has set us free! The Lord has set us free! Praise the Lord!
School is starting this week--tomorrow, in fact--and I know that once I start school again I will most likely be consumed with it. Yet I also sort of look forward to it because usually it is during school that I most experience Christ, because many times relying on Him is the only way I can go through some situations without breaking down. I just pray that whatever is wordly or ungodly in the school would not touch me, that the Lord would fill me to live soberly and righteously and godly, so that it is not I who is expressed to others , but Him. Lord, I really pray that I would express You and thus glorify You this year, always keeping in sight the day of Your coming.