A TEACHER'S THOUGHTS by Tony Manley

As a teacher, a disheartening moment for me is when I pull something out to “check” my students’ retention on a skill previously taught, and they look at me with fear, shock, or even a blankness, and then say, “I don’t know how to do this” or worse “I have never done this before!”

 

This morning, I heard a speaker say, “It is more difficult to work through a hard thing than to run from it.” Running doesn’t help; it just avoids because eventually we learn the hard thing shows up again with a new name or circumstance, so the wise person works through it in preparation to see and live it better the next time.  Isn’t this so true! As I listened, I knew the Holy Spirit said to me, “You do the same thing when I pull something out to “check” your retention of what I have taught you previously!”  I will begin to murmur, “I don’t know how to do this” or “I have never done this before!” Then the trail of frustration, anger, resentment, entitlement, betrayal, rejection…all the uglies of the flesh can begin to lead me to a disheartened, discouraged, even disengaged heart! (Fertile ground for the enemy to whisper)

God is such a Master Teacher. He never gives up on any student. His methods are just and perfectly individualized.  His timing and presentation are perfect every time.  So, what’s the problem?  Let me digress (good word for rabbit chase). I often hear “so and so is just not a good teacher” for whatever reason.  I am not naïve enough to believe everyone is a good teacher, but I am also aware that often that opinion has more to do with me and “mine’s” comfort, compatibility, preference, and compatibility of presentation than the teacher’s ability.  Again, I must be careful before I throw a teacher under the bus, just as I must be careful as a teacher not to throw a student under the bus! I/We must be careful not to resist the message due to the messenger!

Now, back to the Master Teacher.  When I think about it, I have no right to resist, resent, or reject Him.  He has the full knowledge of the material being taught to me.  As the Creator of the student (me), He alone has the right to use whatever materials (this includes people), methods, and timing to teach.  The Word tells me His objective is to conform me into the image of His Son (Rom. 8:29). When I became a Christian, I signed up as a student under the Master Teacher for the rest of my life. I can tell you if I had a heart, classroom, family, and society that lived with full trust that the Master Teacher was who He said He was, and that He is doing what He said He is doing, this life and day would look very different!

“Submit yourselves, then, to God..” James 4:7a. He knows what He is doing and where He is going.