Teach me that I might teach

Even though a child is cruel, God chooses to give them His blessing. And as instruments of His blessings, He instructs the elder ones, such as Jacob, Moses, Joseph (Deut 33:1-29; Gen 49:1-33; Gen 47:7-10) to dedicate and bless His people and to remind them of the Father in God. And God does something really interesting in the blessing. It appears that the younger and lesser has always gotten the better part of His blessings or the first blessings. (Gen 48:8-22; Gen 28:1-4; Gen 27:23-31) Could this be to demonstrate that the law of primogenitor is incorrect, that man’s ways are not God’s ways? Could it be? I’m not certain. But I do know that God considers the least shall be first, the last shall precede and so forth. That is part of His role as the protective Father, looking after those who would otherwise perish in the cruelty of mankind, cruelty that was learned from childhood and somehow not discouraged.

And I need to look to my teachers in the church to teach us the truth. That I am part of the fold and that all we are is sheep in need of a shepherd. My teachers need to show me that we have a Shepherd that will lead us to heaven and the peace that passes understanding. (Acts 20:28) And my teachers show me that I can make a contribution, as Paul writes about in Ephesians 4:15, 16, no matter where I come from, no matter what my background is or how different it is from everyone else, no matter if I am rich or poor or what my race is or educational background. I am part of the whole and with me the “we” is a well-oiled machine and without me the “we” misses something. God created all of us for the purposes of growing in Him, for the sole purposes of demonstrating His power, and the more elements in the “we” the stronger His body is. And the whole key issue that teachers need to emphasize to me, is how I can better serve, not just what I can get involved in, but in making my heart conjoined to His heart, not just how and what I can learn about Him, but what I allow to absorb into my being. How quick am I to say, “Not my will…” to Him? My teachers can demonstrate how I can effect a change in attitude. In eastern religions the importance of a teacher ranked with how one understood their higher power. It is the same with God. A teacher, a good teacher, explains and exhorts his or her students to not only know of God, but how to become part of God and to experience the spiritual relationship with Him. For that to happen, a teacher must show that I can only lift up with a teaching and not with a talent. Talent can only carry me so far, teaching will show me how best to use that talent for the purposes of being one of God’s children. (1 Cor 4:4)