3:325 – Teach Me Cursive

#faithbites #faithjourney cursive

Setting

Today my six year old asked me to teach her cursive. She has no other reason than she saw us do it and she wanted to learn it. My eldest showed her some letters and I printed her off worksheets for every letter. While she was excited to learn, she was also hard on herself. The letters N and M were confusing for her. She wanted to learn and we obliged. It would have been easy to say “No” or “You aren’t ready yet”, but the knowledge is free and we could help her.

Are you ever wondering when God will give you the knowledge you seek? Have you told yourself “No” or that you aren’t ready yet? God freely gives his knowledge to us. Sometimes we aren’t ready to understand it and he gives us lessons to help us learn it. Other times, it just doesn’t make sense or we don’t like it. And in some cases, it makes perfect sense right away.

If we have the mindset of a learner and seek his knowledge, he will help us. We can’t be afraid and need to be active participants in learning.

Are you still seeking to understand your faith better? Where are you looking for answers?

Scripture

• Proverbs 1:7 – The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
• 2 Timothy 3:16 – All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
• Philippians 4:9 – What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Reflection

Knowledge comes from fearing and loving the Lord. As we see it also requires wisdom and instruction. We can’t just “get” the knowledge. It requires us to listen, to learn, and see how God wants us to practice it. Similarly, all scripture is from God and useful for teaching, correction, and training. We have to be willing to learn, make mistakes, see why we made a mistake, and grow in Christ. We can’t just think we heard it once and we have it right. That’s not how it works. Just like my daughter is struggling to write her name in cursive, she needs my help and guidance. She got frustrated but over time, she will get it. This is exactly what we see in Phillippians 4:9. Practice, practice, practice. We need to be not just listeners and learners of the word, we need to put it into practice.

What are you doing to learn more about God and faith? How are you practicing? What commitments are you making? While my daughter has her cursive worksheets, we all need daily devotionals or activity books to help keep us in the word and practitioners of His word.

Challenge

First, decide if you want to learn more about God and his word. Second, make a commitment to learn. Maybe it’s a study bible, maybe it’s a bible study, maybe something else. Find a way to keep practicing.

Prayer

Father God, thank you for inquisitive minds. My daughter’s willingness to learn, and fail, is inspiring. Help us to have that curiosity when it comes to you and your Word. Give us challenges so that we can put your word into practice. Correct us when we fail and forgive us when we get frustrated. We know you only want us to be closer to you, so we seek your guidance, wisdom, and training so that we can be one with you. We pray all these things in your name, Amen.