The Quest for learning

Parents go to great extent to ensure their children get into premier pre-schools even when their children are still toddlers. They are meticulous in picking pre-schools with brand names attached and sophisticated set-up, not to mention the state of art facilities and teaching methods and staff.

This is only the prelude to the scouting for premier primary schools and great efforts and expenses are made to ensure their children get enrolled into such schools. This phenomenon does not end in the cities but is also widespread in the suburbs and smaller towns. The more affluent would even seek out private schools and in the cities some would send their children to International Schools which in time past were reserved for the expatriate community.

Some of the other more affluent parents also begin to send off their offspring to foreign lands at a tender age so that they may be able to ensure a head start over the other less fortunate and affluent. The process goes on to high school and then college.

This has become inevitable in the present age of the ‘Digital’ generation. Knowledge has advanced at such great pace that we see inventions and knowledge made and discovered today may become outdated tomorrow. This is more so in the fields of science and technology. There are now new fields that have been unheard of just a decade ago.

With the advent of IT, what was previously unknown has now become the norm in the everyday life of civilizations albeit that the more developed countries have a head start and are well ahead over the less developed nations. Not only is knowledge the much sort after catalyst for success but also the development of the individual’s personality and psyche. Knowledge alone does not suffice, the charisma and the individual’s capabilities and skills must also be build and developed.

Success in life has become so knowledge bound that the demands of the work place is ever challenging. There is the continuous demand for improvement and the ‘Kaizan Culture’ of continuous learning and improvement has driven the level of excellence to higher and higher standards.

The middle-age workforce of today will find that they would be challenged for competency once they stop learning or should they face the unfortunate reality of being retrenched, the chances of seeking new employment would become very bleak. There is now the challenge that every member of today’s workforce must continue in this quest of learning and seeking for more skills and techniques developed in all spheres of human knowledge.

How does this then affect our spiritual lives? There is this saying that all things are parallel. What is in the natural is also parallel to what is in the spiritual.

The demands in the spiritual dimension are also advancing. Man having accrued more knowledge in the secular world has become more critical in thinking and they demand and expect more revelation on the spiritual truths that are taught today. They want to equate such truths to the level of wisdom that they have already acquired and apply the same measure of excellence to the standards and teaching that come across from the religious teachers.

This is the age of revelation as we see the amount of knowledge in new books that are being offered on all fields and one is challenged to seek such wisdom and self improvement if one desires to remain relevant and current with the spiritual state of affairs in the world today.

Therefore it is also prudent for all Christian workers and leaders to be aware of the demands of their congregation as they now are seeking and expecting fresh revelations and expositions.

This leaves the Christian leader no choice but to also get into the realm of continuous learning and improvement if he wants to be counted as among the successful in the respective fields of ministry