We know that we have come to know Him if we keep His commands.
I John 2:3
To know God is to love Him, and to love and glorify Him is the grand purpose for our lives. In the same letter that declares that God is love, John tells us that we can know if we know God by looking at our actions. Do we keep His commands? Do we love God with everything we have and seek to love others in the way we love ourselves?
This week, I will be using this verse and the questions it provokes to orient my course plans for the new semester. I want to give students the opportunity to do things with what we’re learning. Yes, we will read, and yes, there will occasionally be lectures. My best gauge for their knowledge will not be answers to an exam, however. It will come in the form of practice: note taking, timed writing, revised essays, and multimedia projects.
More than that, I will demand my own participation. I will not just talk about my discipline and its spiritual foundations. I must live them out. I pray that God gives me the grace and skill to do that.