I just bought a new surfboard this week. Well, technically it’s a used board I picked up on Facebook Marketplace, but it’s new to me!
Every surfboard is shaped differently, and the way it’s built gives each one a unique feel. To get the most out of it, you’ve got to learn how the shaper designed it to ride, and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing with my board. Even the fins (those sharp things underneath) have to match the board and the type of waves you’re surfing. All this learning, just to catch some waves!
I’ve become a student of my surfboard, because I want it to perform at its best. I want it to ride the way the shaper intended, with optimum speed and maneuverability. Learning has become an essential part of enjoying the ocean for me.
But here’s the bigger thought: if learning is required for something as small as surfboards, how much more is it required for following Jesus?
That’s the ultimate wave I want to ride!
Research shows that as adults, our learning drops off. Not because we’re incapable, but because we stop giving time and attention to it. We get comfortable with what we already know. But being a disciple of Jesus means being a learner. He’s the Rabbi (teacher), and we are His disciples (students). That’s one of the reasons Jesus taught in parables. At first, you might not understand what He was talking about. But if you kept listening, kept digging, and kept trying to understand, His meaning became clear. Jesus was challenging people to discover the secrets of the Kingdom.
Paul , a student of Jesus reminds us that there’s always more to learn about God. He says there are three things we can learn as we grow in Christ (Ephesians 1:18–19): God’s hope, God’s inheritance, and God’s power. But in order to understand those truths, you’re going to have to do some digging, some marinating and meditating over those verses. You’re going to need to be a learner.
Just like how nobody told me to start researching my surfboard, my excitement to ride it made me want to learn. When we enjoy something or someone, we naturally want to know more. We become students of it so that our joy can deepen.
What if that same principle applies to our relationship with God?
The more we enjoy Him, the hungrier we’ll be to know Him.
The more we know Him, the more we’ll want to follow Him.
At the end of the day, learning about my surfboard isn’t the point. It’s just the tool to something better—riding waves.
And God? He’s the wave we all want to ride.