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Cram It!

  • September 7, 2023
  • Posted by: Carolyn Mahal
  • Category: Devotions
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“And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls.” – Joel 2:28-32

It’s a tradition that probably dates back to the very beginnings of education – cramming for a test. Oh, the great joy that comes from taking pages upon pages of readings, notes, lectures, and research and trying to shove them into the banks of your short-term memory, hoping that you will be able to regurgitate them onto a test paper only a few hours later. What fun it is to stay up late, perhaps all night, to eat sugary foods and drink potent combinations of coffee, Mountain Dew, and energy drinks to keep the learning buzz going as you take information into your brain like a sponge trying to absorb the ocean.

Maybe I am being a bit unfair toward cramming because personally, I’ve never really tried to cram for a test. As a student, I would often put off projects until the last minute. For whatever reason, I thrive on the pressure of knocking something out at the eleventh hour. However, when it comes to tests, I have never benefited from any attempt to cram. When it came right down to it, I already knew the information from listening in class, reading, or taking notes or I didn’t. Trying to learn new material in mass quantities the night before the test just wasn’t helpful for me. Therefore, I spent most of my evenings before tests getting my sleep so my mind would be sharp.

Too many Christians seem to live their lives as if they were cramming for heaven. These people are banking on their ability to achieve cheap grace; looking for salvation when they feel the end is close enough to worry about it. But what about those people who look at their faith through facts and knowledge? Joel 2 uses visual imagery to describe “The Day of the Lord.” The sun turned to darkness. The moon turned to blood. Fire and smoke are also mentioned. It’s a powerful image and on that day it will undoubtedly be an amazing sight. But what will make it even more amazing will be the opportunity to see it while standing in the presence of God as one of those whom He has saved through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

I didn’t see any smoke in the sky this morning.  The setting moon was white, and the sunrise was a brilliant yellow. But despite all of that, today is still the day of the Lord. It is His because He made it, gave it to me to live in it and to accomplish what He has set forth for me. If by sunset tonight the end should come, we can be ready. But if that day is tomorrow, next April, or in 1,000 years, we should live each day with confidence, knowing that God has made us ready for the test – no cramming required!

 

Devotion by Richard Schumacher

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