2008 a Year of Living Wisely

2008 promises to be an exciting year. The Secondary School is in its 33rd year of education and we continue to grow from strength to strength. 2006 was our year of celebration for 30 years of Christian education and 2007 was the year where the school was reviewed by the Board of Studies to assess how well it is meeting the expectations and legislation associated with operating a school. I am pleased to report that we not only met the standards, we significantly exceeded them in a number of areas.

We are a school community and so every person - student, teacher and parent, bring with them the responsibility and the opportunity to help grow our community and in doing so help grow one’s self and those around us. Often we think about what we get out of things before committing to be involved in the activity. In reality, the Bible talks about our willingness to seek and serve God as being most important, followed by our willingness to serve and help others to grow as well as helping one’s self to grow.

The quote that I want our community to focus upon this year is

God’s blessings are given by grace, but enjoyed by obedience
(Warren W Wiersbe).

The verse that we have adopted for this year reflects the importance of desiring and seeking to act in obedience to God because of His love for us and our love for Him. We can do nothing to earn God’s love and favour but as in all genuine relationships we need to be willing to sacrifice and submit our will to allow the relationship to flourish. For us, we grow stronger the more willing we are to submit our will to God. It is an interesting paradox that less of ourselves means that we become much stronger and healthier.

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ
2 Corinthians 10:5

The Bible also talks about our bodies as Christians, as being temples of the Holy Spirit. It is such a wonderful metaphor where we contain the presence of God. In the Temple in Jerusalem the Bible talks about the inner sanctum or the Holy of Holies where God’s presence was so powerful and present that only the chief priest could enter once a year to bring sacrifices to atone for the sins of the people. Because of Christ’s death and resurrection, God now dwells in us. Because the sacrifice has been made complete we can permanently dwell with God.

How awesome it is to live our life each day believing and rejoicing that we are temples where God dwells amongst His people. What a privilege, what a joy what a remarkable gift grace is. Go out and live knowing that God has given you each day to live to the full and that because you are walking with God in you, you can have the confidence and the joy to experience His blessings. With that attitude it is not difficult to begin to enjoy being obedient to God. Gary Brummell Principal