It's been over two years now that I began serious strength training at the Y. I've learned so many lessons through these months and years, not least from my own mistakes and failures.
As I lifted today, I thought about my Greek students, past, present, and future. Some of them have even gone on to get their doctorates in New Testament. What hopes do I have for them? Here are seven that come to mind:
1. I hope you will wear your considerable learning lightly once you leave the halls of academia because that will make you accessible to everyday people.
2. I hope you will experience abject failure on at least one Greek quiz or exam because that will teach you humility and compassion for your fellow strugglers.
3. I hope you will wrestle with difficult passages for yourself and not just consult the commentaries because that will teach you the value of forming your own personal convictions.
4. I hope you will experience rejection when you submit that article or book for publication because that will shatter your self-confidence and drive you to your knees.
5. I hope you will be forced to deal with an unreasonable and harsh professor in your seminary career because that will help you discover the importance of discernment when scheduling classes.
6. I hope you will be overwhelmed by the magnificence of the Greek text from time to time because that will remind you that its author is equally magnificent.
7. I hope you will realize that once you have attained a reading knowledge of your Greek New Testament you will now have a chance to live it.
Have a wonderful day!