Fire Up!

Esther Wilkison

With teaching, as with any other calling which requires heart, discouragement is inevitable. Daily attempting the impossible has a tendency to wear anyone down.

Students may categorically reject you because you are an authority. Or perhaps they will reject you because you represent God, and they are not currently on speaking terms with Him. And for others, it is the subject matter or the process of learning that they are at variance with. Your best efforts are often greeted with hostility--or worse--a yawn.

The worst heartbreak comes when a student, rejecting all your attempts to help, goes headlong for the rocks of sin. Daily life below the poverty level you can get used to, but feeling like your efforts are in vain?

When many teachers sign their first contract, teaching represents the perfect calling to blend their enthusiasm for the subject matter with their love for young people and their desire to serve God. Soon that "perfect calling" has a strong resemblance to a hamster wheel. The more effort they put into teaching, the faster they get nowhere.

No attempt at self-protection can adequately silence the subtle influence of discouragement. We need a remedy, not an anesthetic. Paul's admonition to Timothy in I Timothy 4:16 is just such a remedy. "Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee."

"Take heed to thyself." Is that not selfishness? How quickly some of us are to get the two greatest commands in reverse order. All too often we focus on caring for our neighbors (students) and teaching with all our heart, soul, and mind. Yet we have overlooked the loving God part.

When we "take heed too ourselves," we must examine our current relationship with God. Take inventory regarding personal holiness. Intercessory prayer life. Priorities. Time and money management. Relationships.

And taking heed to the doctrines--what is it the Scriptures teach? "Go and make disciples" if they are attentive? Respectful? Considerate? Or--go as long as you are guaranteed at least an 80 percent long-term success rate? We applaud missionaries who faithfully shine as lights in Bangladesh, but somehow think it is insignificant that we shine as lights where we are called to serve.

My worst hours of discouragement always come when I have tried to be a rescue boat. Seeing students headed to the rocks of sin, I have scurried around, attempting to somehow get them to see the error of their ways and turn back into the ocean depths of God's love. It is when my rescue attempts have failed, that I realize I am precariously close to the rocks. And the waves are high. And the night is long.

We are not called to be rescue boats, but lighthouses. To be effective lighthouses, we must make sure our lights are bright and our mirrors are clean. Daily we must have time with God to rekindle our burning heart (Luke 24:32).

Never doubt that God is using your light. Ezekiel was sent to shine in a situation that resembled many a student body. "They are impudent children and stiffhearted. I do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God. And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them" (Ezekiel 2:4-5).

Reprinted from Teacher to Teacher, December 1998.

Used with permission from BJU Press. For permission to reproduce this article, please write BJU Press.