Graduation

I haven’t graduated yet so I don’t know what it’s like. I have been to my sisters though. And since her graduation was one that gave a qualification to practice as an NHS professional, I know that her graduation meant that she’d finished the classes. She was a fully-fledged qualified professional ready to go into the real world.

I’m not qualified. I never graduated. I never will.

OK yes I’m going to uni next year and hopefully I’ll graduate in four years with a degree that means I can teach. But I’ll never have graduated what I care most about.

Because you can’t graduate from the teaching of Christ. Believe me you can’t. I’ve tried.

It turns out that all those sermons I’ve heard that say God loves me, doesn’t mean I can skip the next one hundred. Because I still need to hear it.

I never graduate from a Christian to a pro Christian. I’ll never be more than the person sat next to me.

I’ll never graduate to be Jesus. He alone is the salvation. He alone is the way the truth and the life. He alone will sit at God’s right hand.

When I found that out it was a punch to the gut. See I strive for excellence – don’t we all? I want to be the best. And after 19 years in the church and 7 as a Christian I feel like I've heard all there is to know about forgiveness and obedience and love and the Father. But nope. I’m still learning. And how humbling that is.

I can never be Jesus. I can be like him through the power of the spirit. But I can’t BE him. He alone came to save the world. He alone is perfect.

I’ll never graduate to Jesus level. I’ll never be pro.

But thankfully that doesn’t matter because God uses the imperfect. And for that I’m grateful.

Who wants to be a pro anyway? That would mean the learning stops.