Teach: To cause to know something
Presume: To expect or assume with confidence
Merriam Webster
Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.
James 3:1
....Just as he (Jacob) crossed over Penuel the sun rose on him, and he limped on his hip.
Genesis 32: 31
So, I had just finished my previous article about teaching our children to teach and how we must prepare our children to impart knowledge to others, when the Lord brought James 3:1 (above) to my mind.
sigh.
This happens to me. A lot. No, it is not necessarily a rebuke - although sometimes it is - when my Teacher does this with me. It is a challenge. Something to think about - something on which to dig deeper.
I have prayed about these articles. In fact, I felt led to write this series, which, as a busy, homeschooling mother is not an easy thing to do. I asked the Lord to lead me to the topics of His choice, and just as I was prepared to write about curriculum - He gave me the verse. Yes, I have been learning from the Master, and today I want to talk to you about encouraging and leading your children to do the same - especially when it comes to teaching.
I am a master too. A master of presumption, that is. My father was an elementary school principal and during the summers, "his" school was my playground. When I finally entered elementary school at another location, I boldly entered the teachers' lounge on the first day to get myself a soda from the soda machine. How dare those teachers chase me out of there! Didn't they realize who I was? Couldn't they tell I was one of them? Two days after entering kindergarten, I announced to my mother that I wanted to quit because, "I already knew everything". I had decided at the age of five that I wanted to be a school teacher and from that age onward I sat in class after class convinced that I could do it better than the one standing in front of me.
In my twenties and thirties, I was a cute little thing dressed in a sharp suit, manicured nails, and a mic on my lapel; sharing my insights and strategies to others in my profession. Then, since that wasn't a large enough audience, I wrote articles on the subject as well. I was also an avid distance runner who sought the runner's high and a perfect body. I was the iconic American career woman applauded by her worldly peers.
At the age of thirty, I was training with the Leukemia Society for a marathon. During a sixteen mile training run, I fell to the ground with a pulled hamstring. This came on the heels of just recently abandoning my teaching career (after the birth of my second child). Now I had to pull out of a marathon. I was also still recovering from the divorce of my parents after over thirty years of marriage. I had lost my identity and my world of perfection was falling apart. I needed a Savior - badly.
Immediately after my salvation, I became consumed in a busy church. The leaders knew I was an experienced, certified teacher, so I was given the assignment of Sunday school teacher. True, I hadn't read the Bible yet - but I was just so dynamic and well, confident - surely the Lord must have wanted me to lead His little ones.... and then the women..... and then, yes, even the men. I led ministries and workshops during that first year all under the presumption that that was what the Lord wanted me to do because I was just so good at it. :) In fact, many of the "ministries" that so desperately needed workers were themselves birthed from presumptions that they were actually necessary and part of the Lord's plan. It seems to be human nature to identify a need and then feel "led" to design a program around it. I've learned over the years that when the Lord reveals the need(s) of another person or even several persons, He isn't calling me to pioneer a program, He is usually just encouraging me to be a friend. Sometimes He is also revealing a trend of the enemy against the church that needs a season of proactive prayer.
Isn't it funny (and yet so tragic) how we will do anything to avoid serious prayer time or an intimate friendship? The truth is that a lot of folks who are in need of special friends are in messy situations that we prefer to handle from the safe distance of a "program". We'd rather call some embarrassing individuals a "ministry" rather than claim them as our friends! That is not the Lord's way! He calls us His friends and we are surely needy and messy in His sight. Although, in hindsight, I now realize the error of my ways (and of the church's leadership for that matter), there was an assignment during that time I am convinced was truly from the Lord. The church was in need of a cleaning lady and I was in need of some cash. I scrubbed the church's toilets.
In addition to learning that the "best" man (or woman) for the job from our perspective isn't always God's choice, I obviously had to learn first and foremost that a teacher must be humble. If I had presumed I had been qualified before, I was even more presumptuous after reading the Bible a few times and completing numerous discipleship courses. My faithful Teacher pressed on, however, instructing me and humbling me until I was afraid to teach anyone. Then, and only then, He decided, was I finally trustworthy to do some teaching (like, uh, homeschooling my own children and writing some articles every few months on a couple of blogs - with few followers!) Someday, I am hoping I can also be trusted with that athletic body again too, but I digress............
In the Book of Genesis, Jacob had an encounter with the Lord and he was never the same. His name was changed and his walk was changed. The Lord has a way of doing that with His learners. He transforms that strut into a limp. The limp slows you down, makes you tremble, and makes you think. You stop blurting and become more thoughtful. My limp? It started literally on the day of that training run and continues to this day. The Lord blessed me with five, beautiful, dynamic children with the same sinful nature that I have to show me how annoying I can be - and yet, still lovable.
In addition to the new lifestyle and attitude, I lost that focus on myself. Perfect body? Hahahahahahahahaha! The body went when the knees did. A fall and a twisted ankle last year gave me another literal and occasional limp. Manicured nails? I'm lucky I get a bath and my clothes on right-side out! Nope, people don't admire me because I'm cute and dynamic anymore. My students don't adore me quite like the former ones did. No one wants to talk to me and pat me on the back after a lesson. My glory has faded so Another's may come forth. If it hadn't been for the Lord and aging, I would have stayed on that fast track, and I would have been a doomed and dangerous woman - and on the wrong team to boot.
Ah, the tongue. That was what James was referring to when he wrote that verse above. We are so full of advice and so quick to give it, but beware! The Lord is The Shepherd and He jealously guards His flock. Be careful before you give that counsel and that instruction. Is it Scriptural? Is it from the Lord, or are you shooting from the hip, just citing your personal experience and trying to lead without even being asked?
And yet.
Don't bury that talent or you'll be thrown into outer darkness.
Don't hide that light under a bushel.
What is one to do?
Yes, keep your feet at home, my dear sister, but you must also consistently sit at the feet of the Master so He can teach you how and when to share the treasures He shows you with others.
If you begin to lose that limp and stop trembling, pray until you get it back. Teach your children the fear of the Lord and that teaching is serious business. Whether the teaching is academic or spiritual - you are leading His little flock. Remember, if He hands you a staff and calls you to teach His children or women, you'd better make sure you show up for His teacher's meetings!
Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:19
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