Once you stop learning, you start dying....

“Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn.”  

 Benjamin Franklin

  Astoundingly, one-third of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives. 42% of college graduates never read another book after college. 80% of U.S. families didn’t buy or read a book last year.

  So what’s to blame? A shift in popular entertainment? The dominance of the screen over the printed page? Are books just less interesting than they used to be? Or, are we, as a society, getting dumber? I don’t know, but I do know this, you cannot be a healthy, growing Christian unless you’re a student of the Word and a lifelong learner.

  It’s not just learning more information. It’s learning and applying God’s Word to our lives so that it alters our life’s direction upward. That means digging in, reading it, studying it and meditating on it. As Joshua 1:8 says, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” In other words, who wants to be a loser? We want to be successful. True success is spiritual success.

  While we can study on our own, the tendency when we do that is to become imbalanced, to get stuck on a few key issues that really interest us. There’s something though about a small group or classroom of other learners that helps us hone our souls. “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another” (Proverbs 27:17).

  There are three things that should frighten us spiritually. 1. When we reach a point where we don’t care about growing and learning, don’t want to have our beliefs challenged or stretch. Or worse, feel that we already essentially know everything. 2. When we look at learning biblical truth as an end unto itself. God wants us to learn so that we can, by His grace, change and grow. The goal is to be like Jesus Christ so it’s a lifelong process. 3. When learning becomes narcissistic, in that we take in learning like a cistern, when God wants us to learn so that we can be refreshing streams for those around us.

  Wonderfully, it's clearly never too late to grow and learn. Recently, I read of Willadene Zedan. After leaving high school in 1943, Willadene Zedan, 85, received her bachelor’s degree from Marian University in Wisconsin in 2013. She immediately took a job assisting a local doctor as he makes house calls to elderly patients. But studying wasn’t the only thing this dean’s list student did while she was enrolled in Marion. During the spring of 2012, she spent five weeks studying abroad in Rome, where she learned about Italian culture during the 19^th and 20^th centuries. “Everyday is a new adventure. Everyday,” said Mrs. Zedan.  “You’re never too old to learn.”

  Do you think you’re too old to learn? Leo Tolstoy learned to ride a bicycle at 67. At 65, Winston Churchill became British prime minister for the first time and started the epic struggle against Hitler. At 72, Golda Meir became prime minister of Israel. Claude Monet began painting his famous Water Lily series at age 76, finishing the work at age 85. Thomas Edison was 84 when he invented the telephone. Both in their 90s, pianist Arthur Rubenstein and cellist Pablo Casals, performed professionally. Roget was updating his famous thesaurus when he expired at age 90. At 94, Leopold Stokowski, signed a six-year recording contract. At 91, George Bernard Shaw was still writing plays. At 100, Grandma Moses was still painting pictures. And Tesichi Igarishi celebrated his 100^th birthday by climbing to the 12,395-foot high summit of Mount Fuji. Talk about lifelong learners!

  God only has one retirement program and it’s out of this world! And we will better serve Him if we’re equipped, learning, growing and applying His truth to our lives no matter how young or old we are.

  In just two weeks, on September 14^th, we’re kicking off all of our Sunday Morning Live classes for the 2014-2015 school year. Be honest, what are you doing that is so important on Sunday mornings that you won’t be able to join one of these classes? And if you’re a parent, what about your children? Are you teaching them biblical truth in your home? Are you seeking to model it?

  Not only will Sunday Morning Live help your children grow in grace, it will affirm and support the message you’re teaching them at home. More than ever before, all of us, particularly our children, need a counterweight to the massive cultural shifts that our culture is now experiencing.

  To commit your children to attending Sunday Morning Live is going to cause many of you to have to make a choice. Our post-Christian world considers Sunday morning as a few free hours to schedule a multitude of children’s programs. But Christian parent, ask yourself, “Will any of those programs help your child with his/her relationship with Jesus Christ? Will it help them have a life that has eternal value?”

  Sunday Morning Live can help your children respect, appreciate and utilize the Bible. Reverence for God’s written word doesn’t come naturally, sadly. A healthy Sunday classroom environment, centered around the Bible, will elevate its importance in a child’s life.

  Sunday Morning Live teaches children how to navigate the Bible. If a child joins the Scouts, the Scoutmaster doesn’t hand him a 400 page map and say, “Good luck!” Our teachers don’t just teach Bible stories, they show a child how to utilize the concordance and give a basic understanding of the Bible’s books, what chapter and verse means, and overall format.

  Sunday Morning Live gives kids a chance to ask questions. It’s the perfect format for in-depth discussion, even debate. This format allows teachers to give kids more good food for thought.

  Sunday Morning Live plants spiritual seeds. A child’s greatest revelations concerning God’s love and His plans for them will often occur in a Sunday Morning Live class. Our classes are like plant nurseries, they may look unimpressive at first, but under the soil, miracles are happening.

  September 14^th is just around the corner. Make sure that you join us!