I get a lot of memes aimed at healthcare professionals. Every once in a while, I will see one that jokes about learning the clotting cascade.
If you’re not familiar, the clotting cascade is the series of events from the precipitating factor, like an injury, to the clot. It is complicated. And from my experience, there’s no way to reason out the steps. I have just had to memorize it. And since I don’t need that knowledge regularly and can’t seem to retain it, I have had to relearn it a handful of times in my career.
The Lessons Written in the Margins
I switched jobs a couple of months ago, so I was able to join my church’s Bible study. It’s strange to start a Bible study in February. When the leader told me the study they were doing, I thought I might have the book already on my shelf. Just as I buy more books than I could possibly read, I buy more Bible studies than I could possibly complete.
Not only did I have the book on my shelf, but I had alsofinished the study. I believe I did it in a group about ten years ago. I marveled as I flipped through the book with all the completed blanks that I had completely forgotten the study.
So I shouldn’t have been shocked that as I went through the final lessons, what I thought was a fresh insight was a conclusion I had come to a decade ago.
A Better Thing is Coming
The insight was about enduring hardship as discipline. It is important to remember that discipline does not equal punishment. God doesn’t require us to pay for our sins—Jesus already did that. But he disciplines us because he loves us. Just as a good parent will do for their child. We want them to be better.
What I had to relearn was that discipline does not always mean we have made a mistake. Sometimes we discipline proactively to teach our kids better habits. Our kids aren’t being sinful for asking for a snack right before a meal. They are truly hungry. But we want to teach them that something better is coming if they endure.
This isn’t as complicated as the clotting cascade. But yet we still need the reminder. We live so much of our lives thinking that we are the center of the universe. We slip into the same habits again and again. We need constant reminders that our lives are about his glory. How fitting that I forget that sometimes the discipline I endure isn’t about me, it’s about him.
What Fellowship Leaves Behind
I’m amused that I completely forgot that I had finished this study. But it wasn’t wasted time in the least. And it’s not just the fact that I am sure that insight bore fruit for that season.
I may not remember the details of the study, but I do remember the fellowship. I remember laughing and praying with that group of women. We still share that bond.
Do not forsake gathering together (Hebrews 10:25). We need the Word. We need the reminders of God’s truth. And we need each other as well.
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