The Examined Life
Two teachers were once applying for the same position at a local school. One had been teaching for eight years and the other for twenty. Everyone expected the teacher with the greater experience to get the job, but when a decision was made, the person with eight years of experience was chosen. The other teacher complained. “I’ve been teaching for twenty years compared to her eight, ″ he said. “I’m vastly more qualified.” The School Board said, “It’s true, you do have twenty years of teaching compared to her eight. But where she has eight years of experience you have one year of experience repeated twenty times.” It’s a hard truth: the progress of time doesn’t automatically mean growth or learning from our experience. What about you? Have you examined your life? Have you taken an honest look at your growth over time, or are you the same person doing the same thing each year? Or as Jesus says, are you bearing fruit? The Apostle Paul encourages this examined life. He tells ...