Class—to Ditch or Not to Ditch?

Ditching class has been around since the education system began. But there’s one type of class you surely don’t want to miss.

When spring fever hits, many of your friends will find some excuse to ditch class—or maybe many classes.

Public service announcement: Consistently missing class may negatively impact your G.P.A., which will lessen your likelihood of getting into college and increase the likelihood you’ll end up living in your parents’ basement for a long time.

While missing classes may or may not ruin your life, having class could be the difference between whether or not God brings you back to life when you die. Thankfully, God gives us lots of opportunities to repent and show Him we want to have the sort of class He’s looking for.

What is class? Can you spot it when you see it? Can you identify episodes where someone demonstrated no class? Are there people in the world who have class? How can the Bible help? Most importantly, how can you make sure you have class?

Dictionary.com defines “class” as “of high quality, integrity, status, or style.” God wants you and me to be of high quality and integrity. Thankfully, in the Bible, He defines what integrity is and provides countless examples of people who have integrity.

We don’t have to define for ourselves what having class looks like. Unfortunately, mainstream media focuses on status and style. If we’re not careful, we might confuse real class with fake class.

Fake class is all around

Don’t buy into the fake “class”—the lifestyles pushed by popular TV networks. Some celebrities, professional athletes, actors and musicians believe they have class because their entourage of consultants, friends and associates tell them they have class. Sadly, we read about their widely reported (and photographed) substance abuse and stints in rehab.

Mainstream media want you to believe that you can’t have class unless you have “bling.”

Last week I saw someone in a fancy car do a trashy thing. A homeless person in a wheelchair approached the car. The person in the car rolled down his window and, instead of giving the homeless person a dollar, gave him what appeared to be an empty gum wrapper. He gave him trash. That is not class.

Real class is all around—if you look for it

So what does real class look like? The truth is, people with real class are all around. The shooting guard on your school’s basketball team might have shown class when he helped an opponent off the floor after a rough play. Ever broken up a fistfight between two friends? Guess what—that’s a classy move. Ever apologize to someone for something you said? Classy move.

Some of the classiest people (no offense to the hundreds of professional athletes and popular bands who give back to their communities on a daily basis) are found in the book you take to church every week—the Bible. In the Bible, you’ll read about a young man named David. Saul wanted to murder David and chased him for years. David went from cave to cave hiding from Saul. When Saul went into the same cave David was hiding in, David could have killed him. Instead, he spared Saul’s life (1 Samuel 24:1-11). Classy move.

Having class isn’t easy

Sometimes, having class is not easy. Especially when our emotions are in the way. Here are three things you can do right now to begin to develop class:

• Talk to God. If you want to show real class in your life, ask God. If you’re asking for the right things (and real class is one of them), God promises to give them to you.
• Listen to God. God talks to you through His Bible. The Bible is filled with real people who showed real class. Take the time to read about their lives—you won’t be sorry.
• Meditate. No, this doesn’t mean lighting incense in your room while you sit Indian style and let your mind wander. Meditating is a fancy word for focusing on a single subject (in this case class) and thinking about what you need to do to improve on that subject based on what you read in the Bible and what is happening in your life.

So, don’t forget that having real class is your destiny.

Mike Gutierrez is a member of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association, in Dallas, Texas.