Background Image
Table of Contents Table of Contents
Previous Page  2 / 38 Next Page
Information
Show Menu
Previous Page 2 / 38 Next Page
Page Background

Additionally, as you read

the Gospels, you find Jesus

devoting Himself to His disciples

for three years. From the time He

called them out of their relatively

obscure lives, every moment was fraught

with intentionality, whether it be in the guise

of a parable, a meal shared with sinners, or

with a washcloth and a basin full of water. Every

moment with Jesus had deliberate meaning, all

toward the end of preparing them for His commission

to go into all the earth and make disciples.

Finally, the Apostle Paul had a three-year waiting

period of sorts, writing in Galatians that he “went away into

Arabia and returned again to Damascus,” and “after three years I

went up to Jerusalem” (Gal. 1:17–18). While we do not knowwhat

happened to Paul or exactly how long his “wilderness experience”

was, it is possible that God had a deliberate purpose in mind that

prepared Paul for his unashamed ministry of the Gospel.

Whether it be living in the midst of Babylon, walking in Galilee with

the Messiah, or dwelling in the desert, 1,000 days is a significant amount of

time, and one that God can and has used to shape a

person for His kingdom purposes. As Providence

would have it, Cedarville University also has its

undergraduate students for about four years,

amounting to just more than 1,000 days once

breaks and holidays are considered.

With the Apostle Paul, we want to intentionally

develop our students for God’s mission in their

lives, to teach them to look carefully how they

walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best

use of the time (Eph. 5:15–16). At Cedarville, we

have deliberately shaped the 1,000 days students

have on this campus toward this formative

endeavor. From the classroom to the residence hall

room, each facet of the Cedarville experience is

framed to set students on a Gospel trajectory and

help them “understand what the will of the Lord is”

(Eph. 5:17).

At the heart of their 1,000 days at Cedarville is

chapel. Students, faculty, and staff set aside 10 a.m.

each weekday to gather with the Word of God at

If you look at Scripture, you see a pattern of 1,000 days

used for the purpose of personal formation. For instance, in

the opening chapter of Daniel, we find King Nebuchadnezzar

commanding Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring the best and

brightest of the conquered Israelites before him. For three years,

these “youths without blemish” were acculturated into a Babylonian

worldview. They read Chaldean literature, learned their language,

adapted their diets to Nebuchadnezzar’s personal meal plan, and received

new names in order to remove any explicit connection to the God of

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This intentional training resulted in a useful citizen

for the Babylonian king.

1,000 Days

by Thomas White

2

|

Cedarville Magazine