Be A Student, Then A Teacher

Good morning and welcome to Our Daily Walk.

Audio version at http://tinyurl.com/264oh7

Do you remember your first grade teacher? How about your English teacher in high school? Can you remember their names? How about how they looked?

Over the course of twelve years in school a student may well be exposed to over a hundred teachers. The more years a student is away from school the more difficult it becomes to remember all of those teachers.

But some teachers will always be in our minds. They are the ones who made a difference and who helped us to gain understanding.

Some may be memorable because of something unique. Perhaps they were fresh out of college and you were their first “guinea pigs” in a real class setting. Or perhaps they had unique experiences in life and would weave those details into the class making it more understandable. Whatever the case, some teachers inspire us.

I remember one teacher in high school who taught journalism and history. Mr. Barton was a very memorable person because he looked and acted to be so old. Fact is that he wasn’t nearly as old as he pretended to be. But he played the part quite well.

As he would teach history, for example, Mr. Barton would sometimes arrive wearing an authentic Civil War uniform. Being a huge fan of that war, he would give some lectures in first person, telling details as if he was actually present the day of that particular battle.

Of course, he had not been in that war, but his experiences were rather extensive. He served in Korea, ran his own business for years, served in the state legislature and traveled quite a bit. He enjoyed the fact that his life experiences became a part of his teaching. And we as students benefited from that as well.

As students we absorb knowledge and store it away for use later. But there comes a time when most students will need to turn that knowledge around and impart it to others. The student becomes the teacher.

God wants us to be good students of His word. Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:15, to “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” Some versions say “study” in place of “be diligent.” Either way, the concept is that we are to be responsible to learn and correctly apply God’s word.

But then not everyone will be willing to progress to the stage where they give information as well as receive it. The writer of Hebrews mentions this in Hebrews 5:12-14.

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Learning about God and Jesus is very important. Obedience to them is paramount. But so also is spreading that knowledge to others once we become Christians.

In Romans 1:16, Paul said, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.” As the song goes, “The gospel is for all.”

As followers of Jesus we are all students of His will. But let’s also remember that God wants us to be teachers as well as students.

On Our Daily Walk today, let’s make a conscious effort today to speak to someone about Jesus Christ and to begin or continue sharing what we have learned with others. May we also continue to hunger and thirst for the righteousness which is God’s word and help others to do the same.

Our thought for the day: “He who ceases to learn cannot adequately teach.”

May God bless you on your daily walk.

© Our Daily Walk, Mike Baker, 2007. Permission is granted to copy these articles provided they are not sold and the author's name and copyright are included.