The Transforming Power of Lifelong Learning

The early years of my education lacked a love for school. Elementary school meant sitting still and being away from my mom—all of which felt like nonsense. Middle school brought homework, more sitting still, and drama. By high school, I eagerly anticipated moving on to “grown-up” things, feeling certain I had already obtained answers to life’s most challenging questions. In college, I tolerated education only because it served the practical purpose of getting a job. Learning was simply a means to an end.

But in my mid-twenties, a shift began to take place—not in a formal classroom or for a diploma. Though I had accepted Jesus as my savior in my early teens, it was not until years later that I began studying the Bible with deliberate intentionality. For the first time, learning was not a path toward meeting an obligation or expectation, nor was it a means to achieve a grade. This journey not only taught and informed me, but it also transformed me as a woman, wife, mother, friend, and, most importantly, a follower of Christ. This book captured my heart, motivating me to rise with the sun, sit with God, study his Word, and know him more. This passion never became burdensome or tiring—it filled me with hope and clarified my purpose.

The more I learned, the more I wanted to know, and the more I knew, the more I realized how much I did not yet know. That revelation led me to do what I said I would never do again: go back to school. I applied to a master’s program at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary at age 41, completed that degree, and am currently preparing to begin another—not for the degree, but for the fruit of being rooted in truth. These years brought growth that opened my eyes and convicted my heart of my responsibility as a follower of Christ to invest my life for the Kingdom of God.

To be a Christian is to be a disciple who teaches others based on what they have been taught. In Deuteronomy 6:4-9, known as the Shema, God speaks to his people through Moses revealing that discipleship begins not with doing, but with knowing—knowing who God is, why we love Him, and what we pass on to the next generation. And the same is true for Christians today. To share the truth of God, we must know him, love him, and live committed to teaching and discipling others towards the goodness of God. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 offers three principles for the lifelong learning.

1. Know the Who First: True Knowledge Begins with Who God is

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” (Deut. 6:4)

Before Moses instructed the people on how to live, he taught about the one behind it all—know God as Lord and the one true God, who provides the essential foundation upon which our lives are built.

2. Know the Why: True Love Comes from Knowing God

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” (Deut. 6:5)

The foundation of knowing God as the one, true, holy, merciful, just, and sovereign God should cause us to love Him with all our being. Head knowledge alone may indicate a level of education, but knowledge that fills us with love and awe produces ongoing heart transformation.

3. Know the What: True Teaching is a Result of our Love for God

“And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.  You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (Deut. 6:6-9)

As Christians who know and love God, we have the responsibility to share the Gospel with the lost. We are his image bearers and lifelong learners who desire to continually know him more. God has commanded His people to teach their children from sunrise to sunset. Discipleship within the home is not simply study time, it is a way of life. What we teach and live out produces fruit we can take into the world as useful vessels who share the truth and love of the one true God.

A Call to Lifelong Learning

Brothers and sisters, we live in a world that is constantly changing, where truth varies from person to person, morality ebbs and flows, and confusion is at an all-time high. However, for those anchored in Scripture, we have a foundation that can be trusted eternally. A commitment to lifelong learning deepens our worship, strengthens our faith, and equips us to respond to cultural chaos with clarity and truth.

For those who feel reading is not for you, that studying is for the more educated, or that you waited too late to begin, I encourage you to start now, right where you are. From a young girl who disliked school to a woman who has found unmatched joy in every page of Scripture, the difference was in the goal. Whether you choose to study in the formal setting of school or seminary, in a small group at church, or in the privacy of your home, ensure that your greatest motivation is not to earn reputation or praise, but remember that you have already been given everything in Christ. Today and every day that follows, sit with the word of God, rest in it, learn from it, allow it to change you, and then share it with the world as disciples of Jesus Christ!

Photo retrieved from Unsplash.