The Holy Work of Teaching

This fall, I get to teach again.

That’s been the case every year for the past thirty or so, but the hopeful anticipation never wears off. I’ve taught preschoolers through adults … in public school, homeschool, Sunday school, and Bible study … with countless lessons of my own as well as other teachers’ lessons as a sub. Like writing and theatre, teaching is in my blood.

For the past several years, I taught women’s Bible study—I had been terrified to teach adults, but now I’m so glad I had the opportunity. For many years before that I taught high schoolers, both in public school and in Sunday school. I absolutely loved their honest opinions and insights, their sense of humor, and their natural curiosity for all they needed to know before heading into adulthood. Both the high schoolers and the adults kept me on my toes intellectually and pedagogically, and that’s something I’ve really enjoyed.

And now very soon, I’ll be back in the classroom with much younger students—two classrooms, actually. One preschool Sunday school class and one class I’m teaching in a local Christian elementary school. I know without a doubt that over the next year I’ll have moments of joy and laughter, moments of disappointment and worry, moments of shared excitement and success, and moments of what might look on the surface like utter failure. If you’re a teacher, you’ll also have those moments.

But no matter what your teaching environment is this year, no matter what subject you teach, no matter the ages of your students, and no matter whether you are permitted to talk openly about God or not, you have three role models and helpers in the Bible who are also teachers. No doubt you already know Jesus as the Great Teacher, but the Father and the Holy Spirit also wear the teacher hat (and you and I are their sometimes cooperative/sometimes obstinate students). Here are some reminders about these three Teachers to help focus and encourage you throughout this school year, along with suggestions for prayer:

The Father is your Teacher and your source of strength and wisdom, the one to whom the Psalmists cried out for help and guidance: “Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths” (Psalm 25:4). You can pray: Heavenly Father, grant me the energy and the desire each day to give my best to my students. Show me what you would have them learn and the most effective way to teach it to them. Give me patience with __________, show me the best way forward with __________, and help me develop a better relationship with __________.

Jesus the Teacher is your example. Jesus could have spent his time doing the will of his Father in many ways, so why did he teach? Mark 6:34b tells us that “… he had compassion on [the people], because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.” You can pray: Jesus, give me compassion and genuine care for my students—not just for their intellectual needs, but help me to see the whole person when I teach. Even as you came “not to be served but to serve” (Matthew 20:28), let me never teach from a place of superiority or hubris but from a place of self-sacrifice, kindness, and generosity.

The Holy Spirit is the Teacher who gives you confidence and assures you that you are not alone. Every day, even on the hardest days, you have a Helper who has been sent to you in Jesus’ name. The Holy Spirit is how you know that God is with you (“By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit”, John 14:2) and that he will give you what you need each day (“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit … he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you”, John 14:26). You can pray: Holy Spirit, teach me what to say; put words in my mouth that please and glorify the Lord. Thank you for never leaving me and giving me the confidence I need to teach each day with knowledge, enthusiasm, patience, flexibility, and always with eyes open to the different strengths and needs of the students you’ve given me.

Teaching is a gift that not everyone has been given. James has a few sobering words for us about this gift: “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly” (James 3:1). Always remember that it’s a great privilege to impart knowledge of any sort to those made in the image of God. And if you’re a Christian, wherever you teach, whomever you teach, you are doing holy work.

As with all great and noble tasks, you’re doing something every day that is seemingly small, but that has far-reaching consequences you may never get to see. As you undoubtedly remember your own favorite teachers, you can be assured that many of your students will also remember you.

My oldest son isn’t a teacher by vocation, but he’s been intentionally teaching his almost-four-year-old daughter things that are important for her to know. Here for your reading pleasure is an example of how that teaching sometimes goes, which he shared in a recent family text:

This fall, I get to teach again. I can’t wait.

Photo by Mikhail Nilov on Pexels