WELCOME TO CREDO CHRISTIAN HIGH SCHOOL
Grade 12 students at Credo High are required to read a book called “Just Do Something” by Kevin DeYoung. The subtitle is a little more descriptive: “How to Make a Decision Without Dreams, Visions, Fleeces, Impressions, Open Doors, Random Bible Verses, Casting Lots, Liver Shivers, Writing in the Sky, Etc.” It’s a pretty easy read, though some students have complained that it doesn’t have any pictures. It’s also a Biblical call for Christians to avoid guessing at what God’s will is for their lives and especially to avoid “waiting for a sign” before making any decisions.
Our theme verse for this year, Romans 12:2, has a similar message. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
To be “conformed” means to take the shape of. It’s too easy to take the shape of the world around us, whether that be in superficial things like clothing, hairstyles (or colours) or more important things like music and entertainment choices, relationships, and worldviews. It’s much harder to be an agent of transformation – to change the shape of those things. That takes courage, perseverance, wisdom, and knowledge.
It is my deep hope that your time at Credo does not make you a conformer, but a transformer. There will be times when you will be tempted to “go along with the crowd” – and times when that’s exactly what you’ll do. But I hope that you will also be able to lead the crowd, even when it seems that by leading in a different direction you’ll leave the crowd behind.
But what direction should you lead in? That’s what the last part of this verse deals with. We are to discern God’s will by “testing.” That could be interpreted as using Gideon’s fleece, waiting for visions like the apostle John, or hearing the “voice of God” like many present-day charismatics. But all three of these are faulty interpretations of this verse.
In his book, DeYoung mentions three ways to test what the will of God is. The first is to read Scripture. The second is to pray. The third is to ask other believers for their advice.
All three of these, but especially the first, are legitimate ways of seeking God’s will. And by doing this, we will be led to the knowledge of what is “good, acceptable, and perfect.”
Credo High will not give you all the answers. But if you take advantage of what is offered you, it will give you some of the tools you need to find those answers, so that when you “just do something,” it’s what God would have you do.
On behalf of the staff,
Kent Dykstra, Principal
September 2021