Previous Reflections
REFLECTIONS
January 31st, 2021In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned
Titus 2:7-8Show and Tell
Imagine yourself left alone by your mentor with an assignment you feel ill prepared to perform. Then, grasping for help, you rip open a letter from him that reads:
The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished… and he follows with a long list of things you must teach. (Titus 1:5-9)
“But I’m no teacher!” you cry. Only you are! We all are.
God built into us a heart that beats, lungs that breathe, a brain that thinks and senses to guide us toward preservation. And we don’t need to do much to make them work. But for most other needs we need a teacher—and we are tapped for the job. Train a child in the way he should go, the proverb reads. And that’s only for starters.
Some form of the word teach, appears about 400 times in the NIV Bible. And when the various synonyms like train and instruct are added, the tally reaches well over 500. And those words don’t include teaching methods like write, preach, and explain. Nor does the count include perhaps the most important of all—show.
Show me your ways, O Lord, / teach me your paths (Psalms 25:4) … you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. (Hebrews 5:12) It’s Show and Tell.
We are all called to teach, but it may be all for naught unless we also show it too.
Each of us teach life lessons to the many whose paths we cross in our lifetimes. Behavior reveals both the principles we hold dear and the temptations that draw us from them. And the balance between the good and evil practices we display will define the legacy we leave in this world. The enduring lessons we teach are not from the words we speak or directions we give. Enduring lessons come from the teachings we live.
Teach them the decrees and laws, and show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform. (Exodus 18:20) Jesus did.
Jesus went [about,] teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. (Matthew 4:23-24)
“The most important [command] is this: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:29-31)
Because God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, Jesus chose obedience. (John 3:16) And because Jesus loved us, he chose the cross.
Show and Tell. It’s the lesson Jesus showed us. And what Paul asked Titus to do.
You are the light of the world,
Richard +
Click here for Printer Friendly Version