There are going to be obstacles. There will be times you are frustrated. You are probably going to get frustrated with your school at times and with your fellow students at other times. You are going to engage people of different denominations and traditions, and you may disagree with them on some things. You are going to engage professors, and they are going to challenge you. Stay in the conversation. Stay when your assumptions are challenged. Stay when you are struggling with your colleagues. Walk through and don’t give up.
Maybe it will become a joy for you. I have had countless wonderful women and men who are serving the Lord in all kinds of places and ministries tell me how seminary was a life changing experience for them. But, they stayed.
Submit
Lastly, I encourage you to submit. Now, that seems like a strange thing. People’s antennas often go up nowadays because we have heard of those who have misappropriated submission to create unhealthy cultures and controlling environments. However, I ask you to submit to one another in your journeys. Be a part of your seminary community; learn from others; engage with others; submit to one another in reverence to Christ. Submit to the Word of God; God’s Word should shape who you are, what you do, and where you are going. Submit yourself to a local church.
But ultimately, in everything submit yourself to the lordship of Christ. What a tragedy it would be to be equipped academically, but lose your life spiritually.
However, there is ultimately a common thread in people who do not finish the journey, and that common thread is that often they are not submitted to the Word of God, to the community of God’s people, and to the life of the Spirit.
You are beginning a journey with people who are committed to the Lord like you are. You are among faculty who are committed to the Lord like you are, and who are going to provoke you to love and good deeds like the writer of Hebrews said to do.
Conclusion
My exhortation to you is to begin your seminary journey well. Recognize that you are going to need to reconsider where you are putting your time and your commitment so that you can steward your time to study well, serve others, stay connected and together, and to submit to one another, God’s Word, and ultimately the lordship of Christ in your seminary journey.
