"He who follows Me, walks not in darkness," says the Lord. (John 8:12.) By these words of Christ we are advised to imitate His life and habits, if we wish to be truly enlightened and free from all blindness of heart. Let our chief effort, therefore, be to study the life of Jesus Christ.
Kempis, The Imitation of Christ
The Apostle Paul tells us we are to study to show ourselves approved before God (2 Timothy 2:15). This is but a tiny sample of what Scripture has to say to us on the subject. For a follower of Jesus, there is no higher calling. This means, of course, that we are required to expend some effort on our part. Simply sitting in church one day a week listening to a sermon, maybe attending a Sunday School class, is no real effort. We need to spend, preferably daily, in God's word for ourselves, and we should be doing so joyfully. What greater thrill in life for us than to learn more about our Lord? This is what it means to be a disciple, a student, of Christ. This is what it means to be an apprentice of Christ, spending as much time as we can learning to be like Him.
