God is the Greatest Teacher
By Mallory Slocum
February 15, 2016
Imagine you are back in school (if you’re not currently in school) and you are taking a very important test. You have a grasp on the studied material yet you still do not know some of the answers. I have experienced this on many occasions. No matter how hard you try, it seems that the answer is not going to come to you. Luckily, help is there for us. We have teachers that will help us find the answer because giving us the answer would be too easy. We are not going to learn anything if the solution is handed to us.
Teachers possess the gift to be a positive influence on their students. The best teachers are those who help their students to discover the answer on their own. I am blessed and grateful to have teachers with this quality. My professors at Walsh helped me to receive the best education possible. These men and women take pride in their profession and they excel in this task. I would not be where I am today without their tremendous influence in my life.
Great examples of teachers can be found throughout the Bible. The prophets of the Old Testament are great examples. However, the greatest teacher can be found in the New Testament, Jesus Christ. The Lord has been given many titles and one of those was rabbi or “teacher.” He possessed a unique style of teaching. Jesus liked to use parables. This style was necessary because it made an intangible concept tangible. Although the answer can be found within the parable it was not easily revealed. Jesus did not give his disciples the answer either. They had to figure it out for themselves.
A great example can be found in Luke 10:29-37, the Parable of the Good Samaritan. This is one of my favorite parables because of the powerful message it contains. Jesus was asked by a scribe how to identify their neighbor. His replied with this parable. This is a very well-known story so it is not necessary to retell it. The gist of the story is that a man was robbed, badly beaten, and left to die on the side of the road. Three people passed by him: a priest who quickly moved to the other side of the road, a Levite who followed suit, and a Samaritan. The Samaritan was the one who came to the man’s rescue. Jesus then asks the listeners which one of these men was a “neighbor” to the victim. Notice that Jesus did not give the scribe the answer. Rather, he had to discover the answer for himself, and he did.
There are many great teaching moments in the New Testament, but those teaching moments do not solely exist within the pages of the Bible. We experience each and every day of our lives. I have noticed this more since I started writing my thesis. After I met with my advisor and we developed my argument I seemed to have a grasp on what I was attempting to write about. However, I struggled to find the right words to explain it. This created obstacles for the last section of my argument because of the struggle of how I would apply this to the present day.
I spent a lot of time talking with God to help me find the words. He did not just give me the answer. Instead, he helped me to seek out the answer. God pointed out to me that I should read an article that my advisor gave me. I found the answer I was looking for in that article. As I have said before, this is what a great teacher does. Even though I am not taking classes right now I still continue to learn something new each day. I have had a lot of great teachers, but God is the best teacher I will ever have.
John 13:13 says, “You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am.” (NAB) We will receive the best education from God. We just have to ask him for help.
