High school and college graduations are common in the month of May, but this year a 13-year-old Minnesota boy will graduate with a Bachelor’s degree from a university with a major in physics and a minor in math. He then plans to enter the school’s doctoral physics program. His mother said the boy taught himself to read at an age when most kids are still figuring out how to tie their shoes. He started reading college-level textbooks at age nine, and graduated two years later from a community college with an associate of science degree. He hopes to be a professor at the university to spread the joy and passion for physics to others.
“Words from Above” in the Bible tell us that one day we will “graduate” from this life into eternity. We can begin our graduation process at the age when we realize that we are born with the nature to violate the command-ments of God. At the point when we realize that we have sinned against God, when we confess our sins to Him, when we ask God’s forgiveness for those sins, and when we invite Jesus to live in our hearts and lives, we are on the road to graduating into eternity with God in heaven.
In the days of the early Christian Church there was a man named Saul who had studied and had been trained in the Law of Moses. He was a strict follower of the Law of Moses, and came to despise Christians as heretics who violated the Law of Moses. He began to persecute believers, arresting them and if possible have them executed for their faith in Jesus. One day this all changed when a bright light shined down from heaven and he heard Jesus speak to him out of heaven. From that day forward, Saul began to use his Roman name Paul and began to preach about the kingdom of God and about Jesus being the Son of God.
Paul became not only a preacher, but a missionary who traveled to many places spreading the good news of the gospel of Jesus. He himself suffered greatly because of his own Christian faith, and ended up in prison for his faith. He wrote many letters, including to a young pastor named Timothy. In his second letter to Timothy, Paul said, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Therefore, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me in that day, and not to me only, but unto all those also who love the appearing of Jesus.” Paul was ready to graduate. What about us?
Larry R. Steffee is pastor of the Center Hill Brethren In Christ Church on Miller Road in Smithville. Everyone is welcome to attend. For informa-tion, you may email lrsteffeetn@yahoo.com.
