I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  2 Timothy 4:7

Julia Lake Lellersberger served with her husband in Africa among the lepers for more than 40 years.  Well after the proverbial four-score years, she wrote the following: “At 81 years of age I am taking a post-graduate course in the University of Life. It is different from any school that I have ever known before. There is no catalogue of classes and no timetable. The studies are continuous all day and sometimes into the night. We have no textbooks, save one, and no teacher but the Holy Spirit.  Each student makes his own choice.

“There are no languages to study, no geography, no history, no science, but there are many elective courses, and I am taking them all. Courses on faith, on wisdom, prayer, patience, love, and joy.  You see, I am working for a graduate degree to be conferred upon me by the Master Teacher on the day of my final graduation. I am working hard to keep on the dean’s list so I won’t miss the most important of all degrees—far greater than all the B.A.s, M.A.s, Ph.D.s, L.L.D.s and the
X.YZ.s in this world. It is the degree of A.U.G., (“Approved Unto God.” (Prayer Letter of Julia Lellersberger, The Unfinished Task, Ed. John E. Kyle, Regal, 1984, pp. 261, 262).

Long ago Paul wrote, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15, NKJV).  The classroom is life itself, and in this somewhat strange school you take the test, then learn the lesson.  That’s how you earn you’re A.U.G degree – Approved Unto God.  How well you learn the lesson determines whether you graduate with honors, make it by the skin of your teeth, or fail entirely.

In this unusual school, some drop out and quit well before the session is ended. They are the ones who give up on life and forsake the hope of surviving. Some end their own lives. Some destroy their lives with worry and turmoil.  Others so debilitate themselves that they die prematurely.

There are others in the school of life who seem to fail repeatedly. They are the ones who never learn from their mistakes.  Like the man who had one year of experience repeated 30 times, they keep on failing year after year.

Then there are those like Julia Lellersberger who at age 81 are still facing the challenge, still learning, still on course, determined to complete the course before graduation.  Luke speaks of David who finished the course in the school of life.  He says, “For when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his fathers and his body decayed” (Acts 13:36).  Paul felt strongly about finishing well because even as he saw greater and greater turmoil, he wrote, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7).

Julia Lellersberger was right in that this school has no report cards, no bell curve so that most fall in the middle and some excel while the same number fail. You are graded with either passing marks or failing ones.  And, incidentally, when you fail there are no second chances, no make-up tests either.

David, who was tested in many ways, cried out, “Show me, LORD, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life” (Psalm 39:4).

There is one more thing, though, that has to be said. When you know you have failed, there is forgiveness which wipes the record clean. That’s the Good News of God’s grace and help, and with His forgiveness comes His help to do it again, to do it right, and to succeed.   That’s what grace is all about.

Resource reading: 2 Timothy 4