Lessons Learned

What makes a good teacher? I have often thought about the great teachers I had in high school, college and graduate school. The one thing they all have in common is their ability to tell stories. In high school I had a history teacher who kept my attention because he often taught history in the form of a story. He personified the historical figures and acted as if he were in their shoes. In college one of my favorite professors also had the knack of telling phenomenal stories. Not every story had a purpose but many of the stories he told fit right into the lesson plan of the day. In graduate school I had a professor that not only told great stories but also acted out parts of stories with a variety of voices for different characters. The ability to tell a good story is engaging for the audience and aids the listener in their understanding of the concepts being taught.

There are many cults and religions that do not claim the deity of Jesus. They say he was just a good teacher. I read Matthew 18 today and realize that these cults and religions are absolutely half right. Jesus was an astounding teacher. The half they are leaving out is the fact that he is also God.

In Matthew 18 there are stories of children, amputated limbs, sheep, kings and slaves. Unlike my college professor Jesus had a purpose for his stories. In the case of Matthew 18 Jesus discusses humility, describes the seriousness of sin, explains the love of our heavenly Father and challenges believers to forgive - all through the use of stories. He was a good teacher!

I wonder why we don't discuss such deep issues in the form of stories?

There once was a man who came home from work to his beautiful wife. She was in the kitchen whippin' up some good eats and looking mighty beautiful. She turned to the man and said, "dearest husband, let me remind you that the apples are ripe for pickin' and the law states that the apples must be harvested before sundown. Not only that my dearest husband but it is not safe to have the apple tree dropping apples - especially now that we have two young children." She was so beautiful that the man gazed at her beauty for many minutes. He gazed and gazed and gazed until finally the wife had to remind the man of his task at hand. The man nodded in agreement and as he nodded her beauty caught his eye one more time. He could not help but to gaze at her beauty once more. Yet again, the wife reminded the husband of the law of harvested apples. The wife was so beautiful that the husband did not want to take his eyes off of her even though the apples were ripe for pickin.' It was not that the man did not want to pick the apples, but that he would have rather gazed upon the beauty of his wife.

This is not how the husband should respond to his loving wife when she asks him to remove the dog poo from the back yard. He should not procrastinate nor make excuses for his laziness for this is not pleasing to the wife.