“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men” (Colossians 3:23).
• Why do you teach?
• How would you define your own ministry style?
• What do students expect of you?
Kids love to be entertained.
Everything in their world is fast-paced and readily accessible. Kids are surrounded by televisions, CD players, computers, e-mail, cell phones, text messaging, and MP3 players. Even very young children are fed a diet of fast-paced visual entertainment.
Now think about church. And about teaching biblical concepts like patience, humility, and prayer.
It’s not surprising that when your stimulation-saturated kids hear, “Be still and know that I am God,” you see some confused looks.
As a teacher you probably don’t have the latest technology or a Hollywood budget. But you do have something kids can’t find anywhere else—the Truth…and yourself.
As you’re genuine and vulnerable with your students, you’ll develop a trusting relationship with them. As you depend on God, he’ll guide your ministry and create opportunities to connect with kids.
If you’re careful to make your ministry creative, engaging, relevant, and fun, kids will be engaged—and entertained! And they’ll discover they can be friends of God!
Take this training deeper as you think over these questions:
• What do your students expect of you?
• How realistic are those expectations?
• How can you meet kids’ expectations and still supply solid Bible teaching?
Lord, please help me remember the real goal of my ministry. Help me to focus on what you expect by…
Thank you for teaching. Thank you for stepping up when others decline. Thank you for being the one who tells kids about Jesus.
Write your description of a perfect teacher. What would that teacher accomplish? And how? How does that perfect teacher entertain as well as teach truth? How important is entertaining to you as you connect with kids?
Transferring DNA
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1).
• What kinds of things hinder you from teaching with perseverance?
• Think about the names and faces of some people in your “cloud of witnesses.”
What do you want them to witness?
All living things are filled with cells that grow and multiply. And it’s the DNA inside those cells that determines the characteristics and structure of the living things. When the DNA is healthy, the organism is healthy. When the DNA is damaged, there can be some health or structure problems.
We are all cells in Christ’s body. And we carry important DNA to transfer to the younger growing cells—our children. We have to do what we can to keep that DNA healthy and nourished.
However, when we hold on to sinful habits our spiritual DNA is damaged. Sin mars our character, and if we aren’t careful we’ll transfer our flaws onto the children we work with. For example, if you have an anemic prayer life, it’s impossible to transfer a vital prayer life into your students. If you harbor bitterness against someone, you can’t transfer the “joy DNA” to your students. That’s frightening.
But it’s a great thing that God is forgiving. He invites us to confess our sin and promises to heal our brokenness so he can create a new work in us. As God repairs our spiritual DNA, we become more effective teachers. We have a higher-quality spiritual DNA to transfer.
We don’t need to be perfect people in order to teach. If that were the case, there would be no teachers. But we do need to be people who are quick to turn to God with our shortcomings.
Hebrews 12:1 suggests that the spiritual health of your children will grow with these things in your life:
• You live your life as if children are watching. Because they are. They’re the
“cloud of witnesses.” There’s no such thing as privately struggling. The quality
of our spiritual DNA matters to everyone around us.
• You quickly confess your sins to God and set your heart on following him. This
is where you “throw off everything that hinders.”
• You follow Christ in every aspect of your life. By doing this you strengthen your
own DNA so you can transfer healthy DNA to your children. This is how we “run
with perseverance.”
Take this training deeper as you think over these questions:
• Why do we tend to think that our struggles with sin are a “private matter”?
• How can you make repentance a more regular part of your friendship with God?
• What parts of your friendship with God would you like to transfer to your
children?
Lord, I need to confess…
Lord, help me build these spiritual qualities in the lives of the children I work with:
God has promised to complete the good work that he began in you! He knows your limitations, and provides the grace to make up the difference!
Make a list of the parts of your friendship with Jesus that you would like to pass on to your students. Next, list the parts of your friendship with Jesus that need to be repaired before you can pass them on.
Take a moment in prayer to thank God for how he has helped you mature in your friendship with Jesus. Talk to God about what it would look like to repair your spiritual DNA and what you will do to make that happen. Ask God to continue to transform you with Jesus’ spiritual DNA.
• What kinds of things hinder you from teaching with perseverance?
• Think about the names and faces of some people in your “cloud of witnesses.”
What do you want them to witness?
All living things are filled with cells that grow and multiply. And it’s the DNA inside those cells that determines the characteristics and structure of the living things. When the DNA is healthy, the organism is healthy. When the DNA is damaged, there can be some health or structure problems.
We are all cells in Christ’s body. And we carry important DNA to transfer to the younger growing cells—our children. We have to do what we can to keep that DNA healthy and nourished.
However, when we hold on to sinful habits our spiritual DNA is damaged. Sin mars our character, and if we aren’t careful we’ll transfer our flaws onto the children we work with. For example, if you have an anemic prayer life, it’s impossible to transfer a vital prayer life into your students. If you harbor bitterness against someone, you can’t transfer the “joy DNA” to your students. That’s frightening.
But it’s a great thing that God is forgiving. He invites us to confess our sin and promises to heal our brokenness so he can create a new work in us. As God repairs our spiritual DNA, we become more effective teachers. We have a higher-quality spiritual DNA to transfer.
We don’t need to be perfect people in order to teach. If that were the case, there would be no teachers. But we do need to be people who are quick to turn to God with our shortcomings.
Hebrews 12:1 suggests that the spiritual health of your children will grow with these things in your life:
• You live your life as if children are watching. Because they are. They’re the
“cloud of witnesses.” There’s no such thing as privately struggling. The quality
of our spiritual DNA matters to everyone around us.
• You quickly confess your sins to God and set your heart on following him. This
is where you “throw off everything that hinders.”
• You follow Christ in every aspect of your life. By doing this you strengthen your
own DNA so you can transfer healthy DNA to your children. This is how we “run
with perseverance.”
Take this training deeper as you think over these questions:
• Why do we tend to think that our struggles with sin are a “private matter”?
• How can you make repentance a more regular part of your friendship with God?
• What parts of your friendship with God would you like to transfer to your
children?
Lord, I need to confess…
Lord, help me build these spiritual qualities in the lives of the children I work with:
God has promised to complete the good work that he began in you! He knows your limitations, and provides the grace to make up the difference!
Make a list of the parts of your friendship with Jesus that you would like to pass on to your students. Next, list the parts of your friendship with Jesus that need to be repaired before you can pass them on.
Take a moment in prayer to thank God for how he has helped you mature in your friendship with Jesus. Talk to God about what it would look like to repair your spiritual DNA and what you will do to make that happen. Ask God to continue to transform you with Jesus’ spiritual DNA.
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