Good day, Purposeful Hearts! Let’s take a mental walk together. You probably needed a break from whatever you were doing anyway! I’d like to take a moment, a teachable moment perhaps, to talk about one of the joys in my life: teaching and coaching from a Christian perspective.
While I currently play many roles in my life, teaching is a boldly colored thread that weaves its way through all of them. Though I do spend plenty of time working with secular organizations, my greatest joy comes from the opportunities I have to approach life, leadership, and relationships from a deeper place. To me, teaching from a Christian viewpoint means that, at every turn, I seek the Scriptural Truth on a given topic before I bring that topic to my students and clients. It’s easy for them, and even for me, to think that if content is presented in a textbook that it is factual, objective, and it’s the end of knowledge on that subject.
At a secular institution, this might be the case. The textbooks, the research articles, and the like, hold the extent of knowledge on a particular topic. But I must remember that textbooks and research hold the end of human knowledge on the topic, not the end of God’s knowledge. God’s wisdom is infinite, and it’s very different from the way that our sinful, human minds want to think about human communication and behavior. As it says in 1 Corinthians 1:18-31, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.’ Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?”
The temptation for a human being who likes to feel in control and intelligent is to want the Bible and its teachings to “come toward” my own thinking and meet me where I’m comfortable. However, the reality is that our thinking should be held captive to the Word of God, and the same is true for how we view topics in the classroom.
I think about verses like Romans 12:2, which says, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing, and perfect will” and Hebrews 4:12-13, “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
If you’re involved in or teach at a faith-based organization, you know the blessings, the joys, and the unique aspects of getting to dig deeper into the purposes of life!
Comments