Dr. David Irving, President of RTS Jackson and Assistant Professor of Church History and Pastoral Theology, offers encouragement for students preparing for a lifetime of ministry. He highlights three priorities for guarding the heart: faithful participation in corporate worship, a consistent daily devotional life, and approaching academic study as an opportunity to grow in grace. When these remain central, theological education can shape not only informed minds but faithful hearts.
The following is a transcript of the video above.
How do I guard my heart when preparing for a lifetime of ministry?
How can students guard their hearts as they prepare for a lifetime of ministry? There’s certainly a danger that many students feel of growing a big head and a cold heart while studying in seminary. And that’s a danger we want our students to avoid. There are three things that help me as a student, and I believe will help our students to guard their hearts as they continue in theological education. The first is to prioritize the worship of God. As a student, you’re preparing for a lifetime of service in the church. That preparation shouldn’t take you away from the church. And so our students need to be vitally connected to local churches, worshiping God Sunday after Sunday. A second thing they need to do is to continue in their daily devotional life, seeking God in prayer and in the Scripture day by day, even as they continue in their study. And the third thing that helped me, and I believe will help them, is to see their studies as devotional. Now we want to distinguish between their academic work and their devotional life, but we certainly don’t want to separate the two. And I hope our students will go into the classroom, into their lectures, looking to meet with God, looking to grow in grace, not merely learning facts, but learning about their Father in Heaven, their Savior, and the Spirit that indwells them. If our students keep those three things front and center, the priority of worship, a consistent secret devotional life, and approaching their studies devotionally, I think they’ll be helped to keep their hearts warm as they study.
