As we live and learn, sometimes we look back and wish we knew things sooner. If we had known certain things sooner, we may have done things differently. This week, we are sharing some things that we wish we knew sooner in our faith.
God’s plan is always better than mine, even if it doesn’t feel like it. I can give many examples of when I had a “perfect” plan of how my life would be for the next specific chunk of time and then something completely different ended up happening instead that was ultimately so much better in the long run. Even when I think my plan will set me up for success or happiness, I can’t see how it will look a few years, or even a few weeks in the future. My plan that seems perfect in the moment could end up completely different than I expect it to go, but God always knows how His plan will work out. He even uses the hard times in my life to grow and stretch me in ways I didn’t know I needed to grow. This is a lesson I feel like I am still constantly learning.
Knowing a lot about the Bible or church history does not make someone a “super” Christian. When I was growing up, I would see people who knew a lot about the Bible and assume that they were some type of “super” Christians who were better than me. It didn’t help my assumption that the popular girl who acted like she was better than everyone else was one of those people. When other people always knew exactly what chapter or verse someone was referencing just based on a vague description of the concept, it made me feel like a bad Christian for not knowing where it was. Or when someone would reference an obscure story in the Bible and other people would know all of the details of it, I felt like I could never be as good of a Christian as them.
Even though the temptation is still there to have those thoughts, I know that knowledge about the Bible is not what defines my relationship with God. An example I hear a lot is that we can know a lot about someone without knowing that person. Let’s use our president as an example; it doesn’t matter for this example how you feel about him. We know where he lives, we know his wife’s name, we know his stance on political topics, etc. We would never say that we know him, though, right? It’s the same way with the Bible and God. We can know a lot about God from the Bible, but that does not automatically make us truly know Him. Our faith is about heart knowledge, not head knowledge.
My relationship with God is my own and looks different than anyone else’s. This one goes along with the last one. It can be easy to look around at other people and think that they have their relationship with God all figured out or always have the perfect quiet time routines. I am pretty sure that is not the case, but even if it was, that does not change how my routine should be. Each person is different and therefore, each person will have different habits and routines in their quiet times and how they read and study their Bibles. It is like any other routine in life, there is no “one size fits all” option. Some people have quiet time in the mornings, others have it at night, others have it at some other time in the day. Some just read their Bibles and pray, some also read a devotional, some also journal, some also listen to music or sermons, or something different. I don’t have to compare what I do to what anyone else does; my relationship with God is personal and it is important to do what helps me feel closest to Him.
Have you already learned these lessons? What have you been learning in your faith recently? What do you wish you knew sooner?
Abbi