A Higher Call

You are reading a rewrite - at least of these first few lines!  I was writing, "There is no higher call than to teach..." when I suddenly recalled the monks of years gone by and how their love to study and know God caused them to become the repository that sheilded, guarded and carried much of God's Word through dark and perilous times.  I recalled the young believer who studies the Words of her God front to back and round again to find herself suddenly more mature than most of the Church that has known God for years.

So I changed the introduction and wrote, "Perhaps the call higher than teaching is the call to learn but...", when suddenly I realized that even the one who desires to learn is taught by the Spirit and even the secular were given the gift to learn, to read, to study by God.  Ultimately, there is always a teacher and without a teacher there is no learning.  As Solomon said long ago, "There is nothing new under the sun...".

Now I write this - the highest call is to learn, to take responsibility for your own walk in life and to learn as much as you can, not just from books but from pracitical application and listening to life and those that live it.  Of learning, there is no higher call than to learn the eternal Words of God that have set men free since the beginning of man.  Having once learned and recognized God, man is called to teach at minimum what he has been taught.

teaching them all that I have taught you...
Jesus

To say that some are teachers and some are not is to say that some know and some do not.  Do we want to relegate people in the church to not answering the highest call of all - to learn?  Are we saying of those that cannot teach, "They do not know anything."  Everyone can teach someone and everyone should teach someone.  We should all teach all that we have learned. 

Most of those who do not teach - have not learned, matured or have not tried to teach.  Though  there is no excuse for not learning or maturing, not trying is the worst deprivation of all.  Jesus is recorded as saying,

greater love has no man than he lay down his life for a friend

Teaching pours more life into people who have less life.  The blessing is two-sided as those who listen learn and those who teach create a void as they give that which will be filled with even more learning.  Teaching is from our perspective a natural, necessary step in learning and the learner will stop growing and learning if  he does not eventually teach.  Everyone who has taught knows the exponential learning and personal growth that results from giving life by teaching.

In fact, the greatest teachers are those who have learned well, taught well and  now know the blessing of learning and letting someone else teach them.  It is the mature teacher that now listens well to learn or simply to watch the teacher be blessed.  We cannot learn too much - it is impossible.  We cannot teach too much - it is impossible.

So, who teaches who?  Who teaches when we are all teachers?  How do we teach?  Is everyone really gifted to teach?  Are there different types of teaching?  Are there teaching tips?  Hang in there as we spend some time answering all of these questions.  See you tommorow.

Know someone who is a teacher?  Turn them on to this great series by emailing them the page address.  Help move the movement to genuine, real, transparent teaching and leadership.