First Day Procedures — A Call to Persevere
For 17 years, I worked as a high school language arts teacher. Every Fall, I bravely stepped up to the podium for the start of the new school year full of hope and fresh promise. The year before had been wiped away — lessons had been learned (more by me than the students, I think), and now I had an opportunity to do it right… to do it better… to be wiser…. to start over. The first day is always the hardest — frankly, on my first day of teaching I threw up in the trash can out of sheer anxiety. Teaching teenagers is not a job for cowards.
Armed with my sharpened pencils and class rosters, I stepped up to the chalkboard with confidence each year — because I knew the Master Teacher went before me, because I had friends who walked this journey with me, and because I had a script to follow. Yes, a script! My first year of teaching during the orientation, the administration had given me a precious handout entitled “First Day Procedures” — an outline of how my day should go with steps to follow to set up my lesson. That tattered handout provided direction and kept me on the course for success.
Easter provides an opportunity to start fresh — with renewed hope and confidence, we can choose to live in light of His resurrection and claim His victory as our own. As I was digging “Into the Word” this week, I was overjoyed to discover that the writer of Hebrews has outlined for us our “First Day Procedures” — Follow these steps in Chapter 10, my friends, and you will stay on the path to spiritual success:
- Draw near to God, daily visiting the foot of the cross in your heart and allowing Him to cleanse your sin (v. 22)
- Hold unswervingly to the hope found in Christ, our faithful Savior (v. 23)
- Consider how to spur one another on toward love and good deeds (v. 24)
- Never give up meeting together. Get plugged in to fellowship and sound Bible teaching (v. 25a)
- Encourage one another— Because this world hits you hard, we are called to be “Jesus with skin on” to each other (v. 25b)
The writer of Hebrews calls on us to persevere. The crucified life is not for cowards — disciples arm themselves with courage and walk forward in the power of the Holy Spirit:
…You need to stick it out,
staying with God’s plan
so you’ll be there for the promised completion.
It won’t be long now,
He’s on the way;
He’ll show up most any minute.
But anyone who is right with Me
thrives on loyal trust;
if he cuts and runs,
I won’t be very happy.
But we’re not quitters who lose out.
Oh, no! We’ll stay with it and survive,
trusting all the way.
Hebrews 10:35-39 (MSG)
Well, what are you waiting for? You have your marching orders — your first day procedures. Go out and change the world.
Q4U: What spiritual goals have you set for this post-Easter season of your journey? Is there a Scripture passage that has provided some direction to your walk? I would love to hear from you in the comment section below.
Every Monday we will be working our way through Anne Graham Lotz’s 52-week study “Into the Word.” Hop on over to the 3dLessons4Life Blog Facebook Page to join us as we dig into God’s Word together.
I was reading in Acts 1 today. Jesus tells the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit to come and then tells them to go be His witnesses.
I love this “Easter provides an opportunity to start fresh” and “The crucified life is not for cowards.”
Acts 1 is such a picture of marching orders put into effect — the word witnesses actually comes from the same Greek root as the word martyr.
Your spiritual content here is wonderful, but I have to say, what most caught my attention was your story about your first day teaching and the “First Day Procedures” you mentioned. I am 48 years old, and 6 credits into my BA in English on my way to (finally) becoming the high school English teacher I have dreamed of being since graduating from high school. Would you ever consider sharing that outline with me?
May God give you great wisdom & courage as you finish your degree & head into the classroom. — I will try to dig up a copy of that handout for you. Some of it was site specific to the school. If I remember correctly.
I never thought of Easter as a chance to start fresh…but why wouldn’t it be? It was when Jesus rose from the grave to wash everyone’s sins clean and give us a new beginning! Thank you for reminding me of this 🙂
Blessings (and p.s. I found you through Soli Deo Gloria),
Megan
visiting from Here to Find Him
Thanks for stopping by. Love, love, love the SDG Community!
Searching the WORD deeply followed by deep thinking about application to our lives today; that is the essential follow though step. Love the bulleted points from Hebrews.
So glad you found my spot on the web today, Lisa. I really enjoyed digging into Hebrews 10 on Easter — I had never connected the dots between that date and the chapter, but this week I am so glad I finally did.
Greetings from Northern Wisconsin. Thanks for visiting my blog. It’s always fun to meet new friends. I loved your post and how you correlated the first day guidelines with God’s desires for us. I loved your spiritual “first day procedures.”
Greetings from South Florida, Angie. It is lovely to “meet” you. Praying that God helps me to implement these principles — it’s a daily yielding.
First days, a clean slate, starting new . . .great thoughts. I am focused on grace during this season of Eastertide. It’s already challenging and transformative.
I love the analogy of a clean slate…. thanks for giving me that word picture! 🙂
Your post reminds me the lyrics in one of my favorite songs. The words say, “This is the first … day … of the rest of your life.”
I’m so glad we can always start fresh with Jesus.
It it Matt Maher? Great song. Love how it says love is a shelter to weather the storm… 🙂
Yes, the Matt Maher song… Exactly.
Need to put that one on my iPod — thanks for highlighting those lyrics for me. 🙂