I had a music teacher once tell me a story about how one of her own instructors had seemed to give up on her as a student because she wasn’t putting in the effort. She wasn’t showing that she wanted the instruction. Yet when she dug into her studies and outperformed his expectations, he took notice and challenged her to the next level.

God doesn’t give up on people, but he also doesn’t force our growth if we’re lazy students. Like any good teacher, he wants us to engage with him on our own, not out of compulsion. This makes him a generous instructor, for when we do choose to invest in our growth as Christians, he joyfully meets us where we’re at and walks with us to the next level.