Jesus Prepared. So Should You.
November 26, 2020 2023-05-01 16:33Jesus Prepared. So Should You.
At our recent virtual open house, Sattler College founder Dr. Finny Kuruvilla gave a short talk on the importance of preparation. Dr. Kuruvilla started by posing this question about Sattler: “Is it worth spending one to four years in this kind of preparation?”
Kuruvilla noted how the Boy Scouts of America’s motto is “Prepared. For Life.” He thinks we should take this principle to heart. “In all of life, the difference between success and failure is almost always preparation.” When we observe admirable people in the world, it may seem that they had “overnight success.” However, these people put much time and energy into their work beforehand. Their success was a result of that preparation. For example, Olympic athletes who go on the playing field and perform incredible feats were not just born with that kind of ability. They’ve spent thousands and thousands of hours in preparation.
Jesus is one of the best examples of a person who prepared effectively. We can all agree that Jesus had an astonishing ministry over the last few years of his life. But we can easily forget what He was doing during the first 30 years of his life. As Dr. Kuruvilla says, “Those first years of his life were simply about preparation.” In Luke 2:52, the apostle says that Jesus grew in wisdom and in favor with God and man. He could’ve started his ministry earlier. However, Jesus decided to spend the first 90% of his life in preparation for his world-changing work.
So, where does Sattler College fit into this conversation? Well, as Dr. Kuruvilla stated, the main thing Sattler desires to do is to prepare you to be “the person who God wants you to be” through relational discipleship and academic excellence. Following Peter’s exhortation in 1 Peter 1:13 to “gird up the loins of your mind,” Sattler seeks to prepare students’ minds for action. Dr. Kuruvilla once heard a former Navy Seal argue that wherever you are right now, you are probably only at about 5% of your true potential. This means that if you can only do three pull-ups now, with training you could most likely do sixty! The same thing goes for our spiritual lives, Kuruvilla argued. “Most of us are only running at about 5% of our God-given potential.” And Sattler is a great way for young people to put in a lot of “very, very hard work to unlock that potential.”
In conclusion, Dr. Kuruvilla said this: “We all must suffer from one of two pains—the pain of discipline or the pain of regret.” At Sattler, you will experience the pain of discipline. But this pain is not without reward. Through discipline, you will realize the incredible potential that God has given you. As history moves on and the world experiences changes, life will ”favor those who are prepared, who have set their hearts and their minds fully on the things of God.”
How are you preparing for the future? Are you seeking to be an effective follower of Christ? If so, Sattler might just be the place for you to unlock that God-given potential.