Second Thoughts: Blaming Gravity for the Ground

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Author: Thomas White | Student at LivingEd-Charlotte

“Gravity operates the same way, all the time. … Sometimes, when we’re falling, we wish it didn’t work that way, but we pay the consequence when we hit the ground. …and there are others laws that are absolutely just as sure as gravity. …and those laws are found right here, in the Bible.” ~ Mr. Sheldon Monson

April 4, 2019 | Student Assembly: LivingEd-Charlotte

I’m pretty sure that at some point or another, we’ve all wished that we, personally, could fly. It’s a natural, human thing to fantasize over. Even King David envied the birds at least once (Psalm 55:6). That fantasy, though, always seems to include the ability to stop flying when you’re so inclined, because otherwise the flight becomes a lot less awesome, and also a lot more terrifying. As Mr. Sheldon Monson made the point in this week’s assembly, gravity is a great thing to have around, and we all recognize that. Even after a particularly nasty fall, no one is all that tempted to sincerely say, “Ugh, gravity. I wish it would go away.” We know that would be ridiculous…but when we, in our heart of hearts, wish that certain parts of God’s law weren’t there, aren’t we being just as foolish?

“The world around us is filled with strife, it’s filled with poverty, ignorance, suffering, pain…those are all results of living a way of life that’s opposite to what God says we ought to live.”

One of my absolute favorite non-biblical quotes comes from Cecil B. DeMille, who said, “We cannot break the Ten Commandments. We can only break ourselves against them…” We all recognize that sin will always have consequences, but if we’re not careful, we can start thinking that God put those consequences there. In reality, He created His law to keep us from sin’s consequences, not consequences to keep us out of sin. If I hop the fence at the edge of the Grand Canyon and perform a swan dive, the inevitable splat isn’t the fence’s fault, or the Grand Canyon’s fault, or gravity’s fault, rather it is every bit my own fault. And as Mr. Monson brought out, the vast majority of our world is taking Satan’s advice and swan-diving off the edge of the Grand Canyon, deceived into believing that God’s Church is foolish for not doing the same.

“The main thing is to remember to keep ‘The Main Thing’ the main thing.”

So I have to make sure that I don’t do the same, because Satan whispers in my ear, too, telling me that there is no splat at the end of the dive into sin, that I can level out and levitate away right before I hit the ground. That fits right into my flying fantasy, so how do I keep from believing him? As Mr. Monson reminded us, “The Main Thing”, what keeps us safe from our own gullibility, is to “Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). To cut through life’s distractions and maintain that primary focus, we need to remind ourselves that those commandments are a shield, not a cage.

Thomas White headshot

Thomas White was one of the onsite Living Education students for the 2018-2019 semesters. He also has a Bachelor’s Degree in English. Thomas currently works as an Editorial Assistant for the Living Church of God. According to his wife, he eats pizza in entirely the wrong way.

Second Thoughts: The Setup, Not the Game

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Author: Thomas White | Student at LivingEd-Charlotte

“Life is tough, and as life gets tough, with bills, and health problems, and problems with children, and neighbors, and bosses, [some] get distracted.” ~ Mr. Kenneth Frank

LivingEd-Charlotte: Student Assembly | March 28, 2019

Mr. Ken Frank packed a lot into his assembly, this week. We heard of how we’ll be leading God’s Church before we know it (no pressure or anything), how crucial it is that we don’t divide our lives into the sacred and the secular, how we might retain a biblical worldview in an era fundamentally opposed to it, and each of those points had something like a half-dozen equally profound sub-points. All of that insight is available in the assembly recording (no cost, no obligation), but one sub-point in particular struck me harder than the others. Mr. Frank alluded to the fact that it can be really tempting to give up sometimes, because living a godly life is hard. It’s hard for everyone, and knowing that suffering is a prerequisite for righteous character can feel like a mean joke. When we know we’ll never be perfect as humans, and that this physical life is never going to get any easier, but is in fact probably only going to get worse as the Great Tribulation creeps closer…yeah, it’s tempting to just go, “You know what, all is vanity,” and stay in bed indefinitely.

“People who start off with a biblical worldview can lose it if they get their eyes off Christ. They’ve got to stay focused on Him.”

As Mr. Frank implied, it’s the temporary nature of this physical life that we need to focus on, and that’s pretty difficult, because this life is all we know. Of course, for those with God’s Spirit, this life is only a womb as we wait to be born into His eternal family. But that metaphor can be a tough sell when you think about how a baby in a womb is warm, comfortable, and completely peaceful, and this life is…not those things. So though it sounds childish, I like to think of this life as the setup process to an incredibly amazing board game. No one likes setting up a board game. You have to find the pieces, you have to shuffle the cards, you have to root around in the box for all the fake money you have to organize… It’s not fun, and it feels like it takes forever. But you need to do it, and you need to do it right, in order to actually play the game. Once you start playing, you’re glad you put in the time and effort to set everything up, because the game is great, and a lot longer than the set up.

“We have to think of the bigger question: Where are we going eternally?”

That’s what I tend to forget, and what Mr. Frank reminded me – that this physical life is the setup, not the game. Suffering might very well feel endless, but the amazing reward for it will literally be endless. Even eternal life can sound like an iffy reward when you’re used to life being something you wouldn’t actually want going on eternally, but what about eternal peace? Eternal joy? Eternally giving others peace and joy? Those are in the reward, too. God promises everlasting happiness and fulfillment at the end of this ever-so-tiny period of setup. If we can keep our focus on what we’re setting up for, nothing will be able to keep us from it.

Thomas White headshot

Thomas White was one of the onsite Living Education students for the 2018-2019 semesters. He also has a Bachelor’s Degree in English. Thomas currently works as an Editorial Assistant for the Living Church of God. According to his wife, he eats pizza in entirely the wrong way.

Second Thoughts: Irremovable From His Truth

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by Thomas White, Student at LivingEd-Charlotte

Assembly by Dr. Douglas Winnail

Ambassador College Envoy, 1969

“Some people have estimated that over 200,000 people have gone through the Church of God over the years. … We had a lot of people that came into the Church, that went to Ambassador College, but they’re no longer around anywhere.” ~ Dr. Douglas Winnail

LivingEd-Charlotte Assembly: March 21, 2019

My mom used to tell me stories of Ambassador College. She would get excited as she did, her eyes coming alight with nostalgic reminiscence while she talked about the people she’d called her closest friends. But then she’d become a bit wistful, and wonder aloud where most of those friends were, because she didn’t know, not really. She would have, if they had stayed in God’s truth, but they didn’t. Most of them left, and of those, most never came back.

Dr. Douglas Winnail’s powerful assembly addressed that sobering fact, this week, as he asked us Living Education students where each of us will be in ten years. Of course, we all say we’ll still be here, carrying on the work, growing in Christ’s grace and knowledge. Everyone in Ambassador College probably said that too.

“Where will you be in five, or ten, or fifteen years? It’s exciting to be here together, but we need to think long-term.”

Dr. Winnail likened the not-quite-100 years since Mr. Herbert Armstrong founded the Worldwide Church of God to the 100 years Noah spent building the ark and warning people of the imminent flood. We’re used to cute illustrations of a wooden cruise ship boasting an onboard petting zoo, but in reality, that ark was enormous. One would need scores of uniquely skilled laborers to build it, especially without what we understand about technology. It had to have taken a great many people, but only eight boarded the Ark. Likewise, it took a lot of people to build the Church…but as Dr. Winnail posed, how many stayed with it? How many will?

“We need to be thinking beyond this world…and be prepared for what’s coming in the future. … Not everyone who comes to Church every Sabbath is going to be in the Kingdom of God. … Only those who do the will of God. ”

Dr. Winnail reminded us of the grim reality that according to Matthew 7:21-23, not everyone “in the Church” will be in the First Resurrection. There are those who are members of the Living Church of God, but not parts of Christ’s body. Members of a group can always cancel their membership, but body parts don’t just pop off of their own accord. We have to ask ourselves, “Am I a detachable member, or a permanent part?”, and we have to answer confidently in the direction of the latter, even knowing how hard Satan will try to tear us away. As Dr. Winnail addressed, we can’t take the cowardly option and disconnect ourselves from the world altogether; with God’s help, we have to brave it, while remaining irremovable from His truth. Staying the course, like building an ark, is a monumental task, but accepting that task leads to God’s protection from otherwise unbearable storms.

Books mentioned:

Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell

The Benedict Option by Rod Dreher

Thomas White headshot

Thomas White was one of the onsite Living Education students for the 2018-2019 semesters. He also has a Bachelor’s Degree in English. Thomas currently works as an Editorial Assistant for the Living Church of God. According to his wife, he eats pizza in entirely the wrong way.

Second Thoughts: Internal Organs Are Important Too!

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by Thomas White, student at LivingEd-Charlotte

“…I think of a body of believers, when I think about the Church. …the body of believers is made up of so many different kinds of people, from all different kinds of backgrounds, all different kinds of races, all different kinds of experiences, different cultural backgrounds, and different talents.” ~ Mr. Jerry Ruddlesden

Student Assembly, March 14, 2019.

A novel by Robert Heinlein includes a quote that ends with “Specialization is for insects,” claiming that every human being should be able to do basically everything under the sun. That’s all well and good if you’re a character in a novel with as many inexplicable talents and abilities as the author can write for you, but in real life, no human being can do everything. The Apostle Paul says as much in 1 Corinthians 12, where he informs us that God’s Church is a body, and that each member of it makes up a separate and unique, yet unified and integral, part of that body. For this week’s assembly, Mr. Jerry Ruddlesden informed us of the absolutely staggering amount of work that goes into maintaining and operating that body, from the ins and outs of making sure Sabbath Services across the world have halls to be held in, to the intricacies of creating a professional telecast and finding television stations on which to show it. All of this is done by an immense amount of people…and most of these people work almost entirely “behind the curtain.”

“…the body needs a head, the body needs a foot. The body needs an eye, the body needs an ear. We preach the gospel, we feed the flock, and all those little things that happen here, all of us together, we’re a part of that.”

All these unseen—yet hugely important—things, being done by all these unseen—yet absolutely invaluable—people, caused a thought to occur to me. Thanks to Paul’s inspired words, we understand that some members of Christ’s body are eyes, some are ears, some are hands, and some are feet. Obviously, all these parts are on the outside of the body – we don’t need to get X-rayed to see that we have eyes, ears, hands, and feet. But what if you’re none of the above? After all, a body is a lot more than just what the mirror shows. What if you’re a pancreas? A thyroid gland? A spleen? These parts aren’t visible—unless something really, really bad just happened to you—but…well, try spending a day without your thyroid. Actually, please don’t. It will not go well.

“…the members in the Church who are not in charge have their part to play. And it’s not just to ‘pay and pray.’ … It’s way more than that.”

You see where I’m going with this, and Mr. Ruddlesden went there first, as he explained that, for example, though each Tomorrow’s World telecast may only be presented by one man, there are perhaps dozens of people that are never shown, but without whom that telecast would never be produced. Those people aren’t parts of the body’s face; they’re internal organs, and you don’t need to be a doctor to know that a body needs internal organs. The telecast needs more than presenters. The magazine needs more than writers. The Church needs more than people in Charlotte. Preaching the gospel and feeding the flock takes every single one of us. Whether it’s Mr. Weston himself teaching doctrine to the members or the teenager in a tiny congregation being a light and example to everyone they meet, both contribute to the feeding and preaching in their own special ways using their own particular talents. We’ll always need faces, but internal organs are important, too.

Thomas White headshot

Thomas White was one of the onsite Living Education students for the 2018-2019 semesters. He also has a Bachelor’s Degree in English. Thomas currently works as an Editorial Assistant for the Living Church of God. According to his wife, he eats pizza in entirely the wrong way.

Second Thoughts: When Humility Becomes Dishonesty

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By Thomas White, Student at LivingEd-Charlotte

“You don’t want to step on other people trying to get a job, but the reality is…if you’re going to be hired…you need to look better than the other guy or other gal. That’s just the reality, because there’s competition for jobs.” ~ Dr. Scott Winnail

Dr. Scott Winnail focused this week’s assembly on strategies for building a strong resume, delivering a practical and beneficial presentation that was particularly pertinent in the lives of the eighteen-to-twenty-four-year-olds sitting in the room. The ability to write an effective resume is critical to those of us who would like to buy food on at least a semi-consistent basis, and two of the helpful resources Dr. Winnail provided are linked at the end of this post. But what struck me the most about this assembly was when Dr. Winnail spoke of the balance we all must use in showing humility and honesty at the same time. As he brought out, we’re all representatives of God’s Church, so if we make ourselves look worse than we really are, aren’t we not only lying, but making the very body of Christ look bad?

“People just lie. That’s what society is like, and lying becomes part of the character of the end-time Israelite society. And certainly, that’s something we don’t want to be part of.”

This topic certainly applies well to resumes, as Dr. Winnail proved. I had difficulty writing my first resume, largely because I felt like I was bragging. But I wasn’t lying on my resume; like Dr. Winnail said, I was simply putting my best foot forward. Do we ever view humility as thinking or speaking poorly of ourselves? I’ve thought of it that way, but that’s a pretty shallow idea of what humility is, and it leaves more room for dishonesty than true humility ever would. How often do we find ourselves being dishonest in the name of humility? “Hey, you did a good job on those spreadsheets,” someone might say. “Nah, it wasn’t much,” I might reply. Did I just lie? If I know I worked hard on those spreadsheets and delivered a quality result, then yes, I have indeed just lied. I might be well-intentioned, trying to obey the First Commandment by not making an idol of myself, but now I’ve turned around and broken the Ninth Commandment. How is that any better?

“We’ve got to speak truth to our neighbor, and any employer is our neighbor, in the context that God uses. … You can be a false witness of yourself, if you don’t tell the truth.”

Compared to God, not one of us humans is anywhere near a big deal, so obviously, we shouldn’t parade around acting like one. We’d all hopefully agree that we should never lie about our accomplishments, but do we think about how short-changing ourselves is, essentially, doing just that? For example, if you’re a great singer, wouldn’t true humility be to recognize that God made you that way, that you owe your talent to Him, and then to sincerely thank Him for it? (Probably best not to do this on a resume, by the way. That might not go over well.) To deny that you’re a great singer, if indeed you are, isn’t that to insult the gift God’s freely granted you? When we dismiss the abilities and accomplishments God’s given us as “not much,” we’re not only lying, but failing to be thankful. With prayerful effort and God’s constant help, we can strike that balance of humility and honesty, recognizing that we’re nothing without God, and acknowledging that He’s given us something valuable.

 

 

Resume Resources Given:

Indeed.com’s “10 Resume Writing Tips to Help You Land a Job”

The sample resume of one Sparty Spartan.

Thomas White headshot

Thomas White was one of the onsite Living Education students for the 2018-2019 semesters. He also has a Bachelor’s Degree in English. Thomas currently works as an Editorial Assistant for the Living Church of God. According to his wife, he eats pizza in entirely the wrong way.

Second Thoughts: Don’t Be Chained to Your Thing

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An essay on Mr. Richard Ames’ Student Assembly titled, “Expand Your Horizons”

by Thomas White, LivingEd-Charlotte

“There are times for meditation, and of course, for recreation, but…have discipline and…broaden your horizons.” ~ Mr. Richard Ames

Most of us have a Thing. You know the one. That Thing that checks all the boxes – you’re good at it, it’s good for you, and you love doing it. It’s good to have a Thing. After all, without anything to make our individual lives exciting and fulfilling in unique ways, we might as well be automatons. But God made an awful lot of Things, and He made each human being versatile enough to fit a lot more than one. In the assembly this week, Mr. Ames spoke about the importance of expanding our horizons, disciplining ourselves to continuously grow into more multifaceted Ambassadors for Christ.

 

“How do you expand your horizons? … One of the ways is through various hobbies and various interests.”

Another amazing aspect to us humans is that we can get excited about almost anything, given time and exposure. Now, this has a ton of downsides we have to be aware of, so as to avoid joining those who trick themselves into caring about what a random celebrity wears to a random place. But a major positive aspect to this is that if you think you could never possibly be interested in a potential new hobby, learning more about it will probably fix that. Nothing has to replace your Thing. Just don’t trap yourself into making your Thing your only Thing. Love reading? Maybe you can give mountain climbing a shot, too. Really into sports? You could try learning to draw after you’ve hit the showers. You never know what will give you a sense of unexpected fulfillment, and contrary to popular belief, you’re totally allowed to love doing something that you’re not actually all that naturally talented in. God might not intend for you to have a career in it, but that’s no reason not to do it for fun.

“Why do you [expand your horizons]? To make you a more effective ambassador for Christ, [who] can relate to people.”

The more things we like to do, the more common ground we’ll find with others. And as Mr. Ames said, the more versatile we are, the more effective we can be as Christ’s Ambassadors. God made a lot of people, and almost all of them have passions they love talking about. Being able to talk to many different people, about many different things, can improve the light in which people see you, and improve the light in which they see “that Church you’re in.” It’s good to have a Thing, but as Mr. Ames showed, it’s even better to have many.

Second Thoughts: Set a Guard Over My Keyboard

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By Thomas White, Student at LivingEd-Charlotte

“The social media in the Work is a good thing, a very good thing, and it’s reaching a lot of people that we might not normally reach. Rightly used, social media are very helpful to millions of people in their daily communications…we should learn as much as we can, and then apply it, and then act with knowledgewhen we’re using social media, either for the Work, or for other, personal use.” ~ Mr. Dexter Wakefield

This week, Mr. Dexter Wakefield’s thought-provoking assembly informed me that God’s Church is actually more active on social media than I am, and I consider myself a fairly hip millennial. (That was a joke. Please never say “hip” to millennials.) The Living Church of God is on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram, and as Mr. Wakefield pointed out, there’s a very good reason for this.  “Of the four main platforms that we use,” Mr. Wakefield revealed, “we have over 700,000 followers.” He went on to say that approximately 171,000,000 minutes of Tomorrow’s Worldand Living Church of God video have been watched on YouTube. Even if you avoid social media like the plague, you have to admit that this is exciting! As God used radio to proclaim His message in Mr. Armstrong’s day, He’s now using social media and the broader internet to proclaim that same message in ours.

“Anonymity has its perils. … There’s a huge amount of money associated with social media activity, and if you’re going to avoid being taken advantage of, it’s essential that you act with knowledgewhen engaging with such media.”

But like sugar, alcohol, and croquet mallets, social media can be incredibly dangerous if used inappropriately, and Mr. Wakefield did not shy away from addressing its dark side. He described the “Social Validation Feedback Loop,” which is essentially the addiction that develops when we feel internet-popular. I’ve experienced it myself; if I post on Facebook, and people start “liking” that post, the amount of time I spend on Facebook skyrockets. It feels good to be liked, and the minds behind Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter are well aware of this. They want us to spend every evening entranced by our phones, because for them, that’s advertisement revenue. As Mr. Wakefield repeatedly and poignantly said, we have to act with knowledge (Proverbs 13:16), with an awareness of how God wants us to spend our time. Do we apply the principle of moderation to our screen-fueled socializing?

 “People behave differently when they are anonymous. … They’ll do hurtful things when they’re anonymous. … And how much more so when they’re typinganonymously? … When you use social media to communicate, just be sure you act with knowledge…”

If a random person on the street walked up and said, “Hi! Let’s be friends”, I would naturally be a bit suspicious. If that person wore a ski mask, I would be more suspicious, and probably run. As Mr. Wakefield pointed out, social media makes it possible for people to try to gain your trust while wearing fabricated identities as their ski masks, so socializing with people you’ve never met offline is usually a bad idea. Acting with knowledge means being careful about who we believe online, as well as being careful about what we put there. “Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth,” reads Psalm 141:3, and today, as Mr. Wakefield said, “mouth” could just as easily be “keyboard.” The internet is a mixture of good and evil, and if we act with knowledge, God can keep us from the latter.

Second Thoughts: The War of the Worlds

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By Thomas White, Student at LivingEd – Charlotte

“We do not live, ever, in a godly culture as long as man is in charge here.” ~ Mr. Gerald Weston

It’s not just a classic science fiction novel by H.G Wells, or one of roughly six gazillion alie  n invasion movies. It’s what’s being fought right now, on this earth. Mr. Gerald Weston’s Assembly this week highlighted the cultural warfare all around us, as Republicans battle with Democrats, “liberals” clash with “conservatives,” the “left” dukes it out with the “right,” and we, as God’s people, hopefully stand our ground against the whole lot of them. In a world where cultural warfare and political ideologies seem to infect virtually everything we see, it can be all too easy to get caught up in one agenda vs. another, this party vs. that party, capitalism vs. socialism…and forget that the war we should be fighting is between two trees, between Satan’s world and the coming Kingdom of God.

“The word of God is the foundation of our beliefs, and we need to constantly keep that in mind…we do have to understand what God’s mind is on some of these subjects, and sometimes you have to search a little bit, because it’s not always readily evident in every case.”

Of course, not one of us would ever purposely side with Satan’s world. We do, after all, know that it’s eventually going to lose, and we genuinely want to honor God with all we choose to do and be. But what if we don’t always recognize when we’re on the wrong side? Our enemy is a master manipulator, so as Mr. Weston said, we have to be constantly critiquing what the world presents as favorable. Do we ever catch ourselves thinking of an unborn child as a nigh-inanimate “fetus” instead of a baby? Are we ever tempted to shrug off homosexuality as “just another type of love”? One way that I often find myself sliding into the world’s camp is simply by considering one sin “less bad” than another. That’s exactly what the world wants us to think, while God’s word says, “whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10).

 “A culture involves more than one person…it involves a common set of beliefs and standards…and those common beliefs and standards must come from Scripture.”

As Mr. Weston adamantly said, we have to look at everything that’s happening, everything that the world’s culture is hurling at us, from the perspective of God’s revealed plan. The agenda of humanity is always going to be in rebellion against its Creator, so whatever the subject, we have to search God’s word for His perfect perspective on it. It’s important to stay informed, but there’s a big difference between being informed and being invested, and if we find ourselves supporting one ungodly culture over another, it’s probably time to refocus on the culture we really need to spread across the world. As Mr. Weston has said many times before, there can be no compromise; there are only two trees. In the war of the worlds, are we confident and unyielding in the side we claim to be fighting for?

 

Books Mentioned:

Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt

Course Spotlight: Unit 4 – Lessons of Peter’s Denial

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Here are a few comments from students answering the “Student Thoughts” question from Unit 4, Lesson 3: Why did Peter deny Christ (Luke 22:54-62)? What can we do in our own lives to make sure we do not deny Him (Matthew 10:32-33)?

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“Why did Peter deny Christ?  Here is a man who exhibits great boldness.  He is the one that always has a ready answer. He is the one who asked to walk out on the water to Jesus.  He tells Jesus that he would not allow Him to be put to death, and he really meant what he said. Here’s is a man, armed with a sword, who attempts to protect Christ from being taken captive. And, he is told to put away the sword!  Peter was expecting a Messiah that would institute the Kingdom immediately, and all of a sudden things were not going where he had thought.  He had to be very confused, but even so Peter continued to be as close as he dared to Jesus.  He and John were the only ones that we see that did follow along.  Peter was terribly frightened. His leader was having the unthinkable happen to Him, and all this just didn’t match up with Peter’s concept of what was going to occur.  All his bravery was not enough.  He could not rely on his own strength.  Pushed into the corner, he did what is the human thing.  He lied.  He denied Christ.  Something that only a few hours before, he would have thought impossible.  Fear, confusion, and despair, and then the awful knowledge that he had denied the Christ.  We can be very thankful that this is included for us to read and to learn from, because there are vital lessons and warnings for us.  We cannot do what we must do on our own strength.  Our faith and trust must be in Christ and the Father. Things that we encounter don’t always appear as clearly as we would like, and so we have to develop that relationship with Christ and the Father so that we begin to develop the mind of Christ.  Peter’s weakness there gives us hope and comfort because we see that upon his repentance he was forgiven. God extended mercy to him as He does to us upon repentance.  Peter was relying on his own power and strength and he failed just as we will fail if we think that we can do anything right using only our own power.  There may be a time when we will be put to this extreme test, and we have the example of Peter to help us.  It is easy to make God in our own image and have it “all figured out,” but when things don’t work out the way we think, we learn to trust that God know what He is doing, and His way is always right.” – MJB

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Second Thoughts: The Immensity of Small Things

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By Thomas White, Student at Living Ed – Charlotte

“We all understand that God is preparing us for big things, for being kings and priests…things we are doing today that may seem mundane may make all the difference in the future, in our future, in our destiny.” ~ Mr. Rod McNair

King Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit of Thailand – Photo courtesy of Dr. Germano, Living University

You know that nightmare where you randomly have to give a speech, and you didn’t prepare for it, and now everyone’s watching? Imagine that feeling multiplied by millions and you may have an idea of how Bhumibol Adulyadej felt when he was suddenly the King of Thailand at age 22. Mr. Rod McNair’s Assembly this week was largely based upon this singularly remarkable man, who had been so far down the line of succession for Thailand’s throne that he hadn’t been trained in any “kingly” subjects whatsoever.  What he did have, however, was an education in science, ecology, and conservation, and as the years went by, his knowledge turned out to be just what his people needed. King Bhumibol influenced the development of dams, reservoirs, water irrigation systems, and beyond. Since the top problem for 80% of Thailand’s people had been an inadequate water supply, he became an immensely popular ruler, all because of what he learned in his youth.

“…maybe a hundred, or two hundred, or five hundred years from now, as you are in God’s government and His Kingdom, administering and serving…you may think back to 2018, or 2019, and the lesson you learned back then that you’re using at that precise moment.”

Thankfully, God’s word tells us in advance of our ultimate destiny, so kingship hopefully won’t surprise us the way it surprised King Bhumibol. Even so, we probably will be surprised by how what we’re learning now, no matter how inconsequential it may seem, will end up being used by God to immense effect. Mr. McNair used the example of Joseph, who probably never thought for a second that his time as a slave and a prisoner would teach him skills he would later use to govern the nation of Egypt. But (spoilers!) that’s exactly what happened (Genesis 45:3-8). Mr. McNair advised us to look beyond what we see, to consider how what we’re learning right now might be used to unexpectedly shape our lives and the lives of others. As Mr. McNair said, “It’s always easy to think that the big, valuable stuff will be somewhere else, will be at another time, will be in another place…and to miss the goldmine in front of you.”

“We all have different abilities, we all have different talents, all with the potential to be used directly by God for a specific purpose in His government.”

As Mr. McNair pointed out, if God is planning on using what you and I are currently learning for the benefit of tomorrow’s world, we need to take advantage of what is right in front of us, and learn to interact with a variety of personalities. A king’s major responsibility is to care for the people he reigns over, so it’s crucial that we expand our personalities enough to genuinely understand people who are vastly different from us. It’s easy to coast along if we seem to be doing well enough, but does God want kings and priests who think, “Eh, this city seems fine,” or does He want those who go all out? If we foster a habit of learning, keep God at the center of our lives, and appreciate “the day of small things” (Zechariah 4:10), we can look forward to being shown just how immense those small things really are.