TEACHER APPRECIATION

I grew up going to Sunday School. I remember the flannel board lessons learning about Jesus feeding the 5,000, walking on water, healing the sick and of course rising from the dead. I remember coloring pictures of the fiery furnace, Jonah in the whale and so many other Bible stories. We had sword drills and memory verse competitions. The foundation of my faith was laid as a child through people who loved the Lord and were willing to teach me and other kids from the Bible.

The Apostle Paul might say he grew up in the Jewish equivalence of Sunday School. He too was being taught the stories from the Old Testament and about the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He was advancing in the Jewish traditions and was zealous for his faith in God as he knew him. All that changed for him on the road to Damascus.

• 11 Know this — I am most emphatic here, friends — this great Message I delivered to you is not mere human optimism. 12 I didn't receive it through the traditions, and I wasn't taught it in some school. I got it straight from God, received the Message directly from Jesus Christ.
  Galatians 1:11-12 MsgB

Paul wanted the believers throughout Galatia to know that the Gospel he preached was not the invention of any man. Nor was it something he had been taught by someone else. What Paul preached was good news he received directly from Jesus.

Paul was not opposed to those who teach others about Christ. His point was to emphasize the authenticity of the gospel because what he preached came from a firsthand experience with Jesus. Paul would later write to the Ephesians, one of the churches in the province of Galatia, to tell them that it was Jesus who gave pastors and teachers to the church to help believers grow in maturity of faith (see Ephesians 4:11-13).

Through the years I’ve come to know that just head knowledge is not enough to keep us “in the faith.” If we are going to have a vibrant living faith in Christ that will be able to endure the hardships of life we must have a personal revelation of Jesus. I won’t make it just knowing the lessons I’ve learned or hearing about other people’s experience. I need a personal encounter with the living Christ. I’m thankful for the teachers I’ve had in my life. They didn’t just teach religious stories. They pointed the way to Jesus who revealed Himself to me. What do you think?