Student or Apprentice?

I was reading an excerpt of a new book through an online book club and was struck by this:

"Becoming the apprentice of a rabbi in the first century was, therefore, quite different from the experience of a typical twenty-first-century student.

Today, students want to know what their teacher knows so they can achieve a grade, complete a course or pass an exam. In contrast to this, a first-century apprentice wanted to be like their teacher-to become what the teacher was."1

It should not really have been such a revelation to me, but it really hit me as a point of self-examination. Most of my life, I think I've been more of a student of Jesus than an apprentice. I may say that I am a Christian, a Christ-one, a Christ follower... but am I just learning what Jesus taught so I can spout it back to someone, or am I striving to become like Him?

The book went on to say, "A talmid (apprentice) followed the rabbi everywhere, every day and every hour of the day-often without knowing or asking where he was going-with one simple goal: to imitate him."2

Wow! Do I follow Jesus that faithfully, that trustingly? And is my one simple goal to imitate Him?

If I'm going to say "yes," I need to do it now, every day, every moment of every day. It has to be a continual, conscious choice, or I will easily fall back into "student" mode and forget to be an "apprentice."

What about you? Are you a student or an apprentice?

Ruth Schmidt

DIGGING DEEPER:
Psalm 23: 4
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

1 Apprentice: Walking the Way of Christ, By Steve Chalke, Published by Zondervan, Copyright (c) 2009
2 ibid