“God’s Syllabus”

“God’s Syllabus”

 

DISCUSSION                                                                            

                For the last 16 years, I have had the privilege of teaching Bible at our local Christian high school.  On the very first day of class, I have always presented the students with a syllabus.  A syllabus is simply a document that a teacher gives their students that explain what the class will be about; but it also contains a list of the expectations that the teacher has for the student by way of assignments.  For instance, if the student completes assignment A, B, C and D, they will receive a 100 for their grade.  However, if the student only completes assignments A and B and fail to do assignments C and D, they will receive only a 50 for their final grade.  Every year I will always have a few students that procrastinate and not pay attention to the syllabus by failing to complete all the assignments.  When I ask them why they did not follow the directions, their reply is always something to the effect of “I had no idea I was required to do that”. When I read today’s Bible passages I am reminded of that syllabus.   In Deuteronomy 28, God is handing out one to the nation of Israel.  God lays out in the first fourteen verses what He expects them to do concerning being obedient to Him.  While in the remaining fifty-three verses He outlines a warning of what will happen if they do not do what He expects of them.  Why so little on the obedience and so much on the warning against not being obedient?  Maybe because many of us are just like some of those students; we don’t pay as much attention to the teacher.  God’s warning against disobedience serves as an emphasis for them to make sure they follow instructions. Let’s just make sure we heed those warnings.

Prayer Requests:_______________________________________________________________