12 August, 2003
In one of our staff development things today, we were looking over the TAKS scores from last year. Being a band director, I was sort of told to go with whatever group I wanted. So I stayed at the table where I was and just stayed with the group that decided to go to that table. So I got to analyze the 8th Grade Reading scores. As we looked at the data, it became clear that one of the trends was that they seemed to do really well on the basic fact-finding questions. Such as, “what happened after Joe went to the kitchen” or something. But the problems seemed more evident in the higher-level critical thinking kinds of questions like “what did the author mean by…” or “what was the meaning of paragraph five” or whatever. In one of the other groups, they noticed that the 8th graders (same students) did remarkably well in the critical thinking questions on the Social Studies test.
This disparity struck me as being very odd. These children can grasp these kinds of concepts in History, but not when they read an article. Why in the world is that? Then it struck me…
This is a problem that we all have. We compartmentalize our lives. We can concentrate for hours on end when it comes to video games or movies, but when we try to read a book, our mind wanders. We can be compltely disciplined with our organizational skills and have a calendar that is jam-packed yet still make every appointment; but on the other hand, we cannot maintain discipline to remain on a diet longer than three days! 
It often gets even worse when we begin to consider spiritual matters. I can read a book for fifteen minutes at a time, but it is so terribly hard to pray for fifteen minutes sometimes. Think of it, the Creator of the universe wants to talk to me, and yet I cannot find it in me to even talk to Him (let alone listen to Him) for half of a television program. Why such lopsidedness?
Jesus said, “The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” I think that the key is that we are to crucify the flesh. This is not a one-time thing, either. Because our flesh is so strong. We want to be free from its power, and we can be, but that freedom is not long-lived. Like when you leave a wonderful worship service and the guy cuts you off on the highway. Where’s that holy character we just learned about? Where’s that teachable spirit we just portrayed? We must crucify the flesh daily. But even that is not enough. Denial of self is so terribly hard to do! It must be a continual process. Moment-by-moment living to please the Father. Jesus said He did only those things which please the Father. Oh how I wish that could be my true condition! I wish I could know my own true condition.
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