Hello my fellow brothers and sisters; I pray that all is well with you! When I write my monthly blog, I always try to come up with a catchy title for that month’s blog. I think the title for this month’s blog may throw many of you off. For us old folks, (wow, did I just call you and me old) just by reading the title of my blog this month, you know exactly what I am referring to.

Back in 1957, I know some of you weren’t even born then and yes we had electricity back then too, a man named Chuck Berry came out with a song called School Days that would eventually become a classic.

In the song, Chuck Berry sings about going back to school and all that it entailed.  The first line in the song says, Up in the morning and out to school; boy do I remember that well.  In the song School Day, it talks about what takes place in the course of a day at school. In the middle of the song  it says when the school day comes to a close, everyone heads for nearest soda joint to drink a soda or shake and dance the afternoon away to the songs on the jukebox, sorry there were no MP3 players back then. Just thinking about those times brings a smile to my face.

In the song School Day, there is a stanza that says, Soon as three o’clock rolls around, you finally lay your burden down. Close up your books , get out of your seat, down the hall and into the street.  As difficult and boring  that I felt school was back then, I must admit that learning was fun and exciting when I actually put the effort it took to learn.

The psalmist writes in Psalm 119:33 “Teach me, O Lord, to follow Your decrees; then I will keep them to the end.” David declares in Psalm 25:8-9 “Good and upright is the Lord; therefore He instructs sinners in His ways. He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them His way.”

Right before Moses gave the Ten Commandments to Israel, we read in Deuteronomy 5:1 “Moses summoned all Israel and said: Hear, O Israel, the decrees and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them.”  Sadly, there are supposedly seasoned Christians today who cannot quote the Ten Commandments from memory?

We live across the street from an elementary school and because at the present time my office is at home, each morning as I look out my window, I see countless young boys and girls make their way to school for another day of learning. At the end of the school day I see those same boys and girls run out of school  just like we did back in the day.  My prayer is that in the course of that school day, those young boys and girls learned something to help educate them and make them a better person.  

As we looked at those lyrics in song School Day, we saw it said, Soon as three o’clock rolls around, you finally lay your burden down. It is sad to see that so many Christians today view learning the ways of the Lord as a burden and as the song says, they quickly look to lay that burden down as soon as they can. 

1 John 5:3 “This is love for God: to obey His commands. And His commands are not burdensome.”  I’m ashamed to say but there have been times when I viewed the Lord commands as burdensome.  In those times I wanted to have it my way; I wanted to do want I want to do, and obeying the Lord’s commands got in the way of that taking place, plain and simple.

Proverbs 13:8 “He who scorns instruction will pay for it, but he who respects a command is rewarded.” Any time I chose to scorn the instruction of the Lord, it always came with a price, so you ask why would I do that. Every one of us wage a constant battle with our flesh and our spirit man and we will surely lose that battle  if we not only fail to learn the Lord’s ways; the Lord’s commands but also show our respect for them by obeying them

The Lord’s deepest desire is to teach us HIs ways but we must be willing to allow the Lord to teach us and as good students, learn his ways and apply them to our life.

Ring Ring Goes The Bell!  As Christians, are we so anxious to hear the bell so we can lay our responsibility of learning and obeying the Lord’s commands down or do we see earnestly desire for the Lord to instruct us in His ways for we view them as not only beautiful but greatly needed for our life?

Stay in the school of the Lord my brother and sister. Keep your eyes and nose daily in His Word and seek to constantly learn His ways. Graduation will come when this life is over and we stand in His presence 🙂