care and feeding

I love to teach, and so far in my life I've had any number of opportunities to do so. I worked as an instructor for a computer company about twenty years ago, but the most memorable and rewarding opportunities I've had were at my church, sharing with others from the word of God. Not only were there huge blessings in guiding others in the word, but God used those times mightily in my life, teaching me his word.

I remember that one struggle that I continually dealt with was the temptation to let any preparation for a class supersede or replace my own personal study and quiet times with the Lord. I had early recognized a difference in preparing to teach and daily devotional reading of the word. I could never quite put my finger on the difference until I read this comment from C. S. Lewis:

A man can't be always defending the truth; there must be a time to feed on it.

That helped me greatly because it not only asserted the necessity of personal time in the word apart from class preparation, but somehow I also sensed a warning to be certain I was defending the truth rather than my beliefs. Of course, my heart's desire is that I know and believe the truth, and that where the personal time in the word comes in.

Even when not teaching, attending a class is no substitute for private, personal time in the word. As beneficial as the class is, reading and studying together with others, discussing, learning from one another, it can't replace the bringing of an open heart and teachable mind to a loving personal God in his word.

I'm not doing any teaching right now, and that is a mixed blessing. It is good in a way to have a rest (and continue to feed on the word,) but I pray that God will sometime, somewhere, open a teaching opportunity for me and then push me to serve his people that way.