I spent 11 years as a public-school teacher and those years were challenging, illuminating, and fulfilling. As a math teacher in an over-crowded middle school classroom on the rough side of an inner city, I couldn’t fall asleep; I had to be on my game! That was challenging. Engaging my students, listening to their stories, and learning about their lives, was illuminating. I realized that people won’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care. And as I watched students go from struggling to succeeding, from bad behavior to better behavior, and from being followers to becoming leaders, I knew that teaching is both a privilege and a means of power—the power to instruct, inspire, and transform lives. And that is very fulfilling!

The privilege of teaching comes with responsibility. You will need to do some work in order to do the work. The rhythm goes something like this:

1. Prepare to teach. Always prepare. Not preparing is an abuse of the privilege of teaching.
2. Teach. Stay in the moment. Be alert and engaged. Think on your feet and do the work.
3. Then reflect on what you taught and how you taught it. This makes you a better teacher at what you’ve been teaching.

In Titus 2:1-8 the Apostle Paul accents the privilege and power of teaching as he instructs various groups within the family, the church, and society.

“…teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine… Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect…Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good…Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children...encourage the young men to be self-controlled…In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.”

You may not be a career teacher like I was, but you can still enjoy the privilege and power of teaching. Here are three things you can do:

1. Teach with your words. Give people good instruction, motivation, and direction.
2. Teach with your deeds. When you help and serve, you are teaching others to do the same.
3. Teach with your life. When your words and deeds add up, the sum should be positive, not negative.

Wisdom for Your Week

Your words and deeds have the power to instruct, inspire, and transform lives.