What Does God’s Classroom Look Like?

02/14/2005

Jesus was called Teacher by those who knew Him. "Teacher, we know how honest you are. You teach about the way of God regardless of the consequences. You are impartial and don't play favorites.” Matthew 22:16 (NLT)

Where there’s a teacher, there is usually some sort of a classroom. On the old TV show, “Little House on the Prairie,” it was a one-room classroom. Classrooms can be anything from one room to many, and they can even be out of doors, but I think there’s a classroom that many of us don’t think about. I believe God’s classroom is in the shape of a heart and it is found inside each one of us. As we live each day, we learn and we grow from the inside out. All the places we travel with God on our journey through this life become different classrooms, different ways God’s lessons touch our hearts--each experience opening up for us new adventures where we’re taught new things before moving onto the next experience.

I was thinking about this today as I wrote an email to a friend of mine. This is what I wrote: Thanks for your prayers for the project here. Things are moving along and we are learning so much about waiting on God, listening for God, loving others and all the rest. I know that God allows us to do these things for Him because He uses them as great tools for teaching us that it's our relationship with Him that is first and foremost!!

I think it’s interesting that as I am writing, I am in the process of learning as well. That happens quite frequently when typing these long messages, but not usually in just an email. Usually when I type up long messages, God has me in His “classroom.” He reveals things to me, helps me take a closer look at them as I work through the situations, and then I am allowed to move on after passing the final exam (an essay) on that “subject.” By the time you read what I have written, I’m usually in another Classroom somewhere, dealing with a different subject, asking God new questions and looking through my “Textbook” for more direction. Isn’t it amazing how it all comes out of one Book though? The Bible is truly a marvel of God’s handiwork!! It covers every subject thoroughly!!

So, back to that short email I typed up today--as I wrote, I know that God allows us to do these things for Him because He uses them as great tools for teaching us that it's our relationship with Him that is first and foremost!! I was once again being taught a fresher way of seeing how God works through all things. I know that God is in all things, that He directs our steps, that He is constantly teaching us how better to live this life here on earth while preparing us for eternity, but I had never really thought about all the things He allows us to do as being the very tools He uses to bring us along in this learning process. In some ways, that surprises me. I’ve thought of different versions of that idea, but not quite the same way it hit me today.

It’s like this world we live in is just one big classroom, with God as our Teacher. Each day a subject is chosen, be that, “How to love our neighbor better,” or “How to better our studying skills,” or maybe something like, “A vocational course with instructions on how to utilize the talents that we’ve been given in a better way?” The subjects may be ours to choose sometimes, perhaps most times God ultimately chooses them for us, but whatever we are to learn on any give day is planned out by our amazing Teacher. He alone knows the best way to teach us new skills that will eventually draw us into a closer relationship with Him. Sometimes we really don’t like the course all that well. Sometimes it’s a fun course like art; sometimes it’s an extremely difficult course like Trigonometry. Thank you God for a spell checker, because I don’t even know how to spell that world let alone work out those problems!

So, let’s start with an easy subject here. Suppose we ask ourselves, “How do we love our neighbor better?” Now this doesn’t exactly mean the person living next door, it can be anyone we come in contact with in our day. Like the story of the Good Samaritan found in Luke 10:30-37. In that story, a Jewish man was attacked by bandits and left half dead beside the road. Two men passed him by, actually crossing to the other side of the road instead of helping him. Then a “despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt deep pity. Kneeling beside him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with medicine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him.” (NLT)

That’s quite the “classroom” for the Samaritan man that day!! He probably didn’t even see it coming! He was just minding his own business, trying to get on with his day when the Teacher/God had designed a lesson plan. Not only for the Samaritan, but also for the Jewish man, and also for the two men that crossed to the other side of the road and however many people were involved in this whole process on just this one particular day. The people at the inn and the bandits were very involved also. The amazing thing is, everyone was in God’s classroom on that day, everyone was taking a different subject, and everyone would come away with some sort of new knowledge and new view of their relationship with God because of what they had experienced.

For example: The Jewish man found out how hard this world can be, how uncaring some individuals can be to those in need, but also how loving some can be when help is needed. He probably wondered where God was while he was being robbed and beaten…He may have seen God more clearly through the actions of another when all was said and done. Perhaps he also learned how to better handle a situation like this in the future when he comes across someone else needing his help. Will he take this lesson to heart, becoming more compassionate to those around him, or will he be needing further instruction on how best to love his neighbor in courses “Loving II,” and “Loving III.” Only God knows his heart and how much was absorbed in this life experience.

Now the two men who crossed over to the other side of the road are at a different place in their lives. Perhaps they have never felt great need, never experienced the love of others helping them in their distress, they barely gave a thought to what was happening as they got on with their plans for the day. Their hearts seemed hardened to God’s desire that they should love others as they love themselves. This was just an introduction for them, and there will be much more for them to learn later…

The despised Samaritan man, on the other hand, had probably experienced great need in his life. He had taken that class before, he had learned how it felt to be helped and cared for, and how it felt to be ignored instead of loved…somewhere along the road of life his heart had been touched and he was more willing and able to reach out and touch another. He had moved on to “Loving III,” and was putting into practice what he had learned so far.

Those at the inn…they watched others taking this class, they wondered what drove the despised Samaritan man to help a stranger, and started to ponder in their own minds what they would have done had they come upon the same situation. Would they have been so kind? Only time and their own relationship with God would tell them that.

Which leaves us with the bandits who robbed and beat this Jewish man. Was God also teaching them? Yes. There are many different courses to take in this life, and we all must begin somewhere. Sometimes those courses are a bit messy…like pottery. But when the molding and shaping is completed, there is a work of art to behold. With God as our Potter, He takes each one of us, in whatever lump of clay we start out as, and He molds us and shapes us and stretches us until His creation is made into His perfect image. Most times, that takes until our dying day. We never arrive at our full potential in this life until we are called Home. Only on that day will we actually see the full perfection that Jesus Christ showed us in the way He lived His life on this earth. We will we be dressed in a robe of white, a spotless creation of God, having been washed clean by the blood of his Son. Only then will sin be no more in our lives…we will have graduated from this earth, from this school of learning, into life everlasting.

I am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord my God!
For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation
and draped me in a robe of righteousness. I am like
a bridegroom in his wedding suit or a bride with her
jewels. The Sovereign Lord will show his justice
to the nations of the world. Everyone will praise him!
Isaiah 61:10-11 (NLT)

In all this learning as we travel through life, it doesn’t really matter what classroom we are in. One who is in “Love III” as compared to someone in “Love I,” does not mean that some are behind in their learning schedule. It does not mean that they need to work overtime to catch up with those who are seemingly ahead in the school of life. God has different people in different classes at different times for a reason. We are all a unique creation of God, and He has a very unique plan for each one of us. Some who have already taken “Love III” are sent to tutor those struggling through “Love I.” That is what mentoring is all about. It does not make the mentor perfect, only more experienced in what they have been taught so far by the Great Teacher.

What is the most important help a mentor can give to another student in the classroom of life? What are the best learning tips to be passed on? Is it about the course alone or about something or Someone else entirely? I believe the most helpful tips a mentor can pass on to anyone are:

Get to know the Teacher!! (Desire a personal relationship with God)
Call Him at Home each day! (Pray)
Read the Book He has assigned! (Stay in the Word)
and finally…PAY ATTENTION! (Be willing to hear God and then listen to God)

“Anyone who is willing to hear should listen
and understand! And be sure to pay attention
to what you hear. The more you do this, the more
you will understand—and even more, besides.”
Mark 4:23-24 (NLT)

So many of us are daydreaming. We are sitting in a “Classroom” somewhere, and we are not focused…for whatever reason. Perhaps we have “more important” things to be doing, perhaps we think we already know what’s being taught on that day, or perhaps we’re just bored with the whole subject of life because it really hasn’t been what we expected. We were hoping for something a little more exciting…but be careful! If we refuse to listen, we may miss out on so very much! Oswald Chambers writes for February 12th in “My Utmost for His Highest:” We like to listen to personal testimonies, but we do not desire that God Himself should speak to us. Why are we so terrified lest God should speak to us? Because we know that if God does speak, either the thing must be done or we must tell God we will not obey Him.

“To those who are open to my teaching, more understanding
will be given. But to those who are not listening, even what
they have will be taken away from them.”
Mark 4:25 (NLT)

The Classroom that God sets up in our heart is the most exciting course ever, if we will simply pay attention! I’m not saying it is always easy, there are some very difficult tests to pass and some great struggles to work through, but it is anything but boring!! It is a classroom that is preparing us for our eternity with Him. What we do here will affect what we do in heaven. On that final day of “graduation,” we will not be condemned for our sins, because as believers in Jesus Christ, we have been forgiven. But we will be rewarded for our obedience, for our “listening skills” and for the “earthwork” we have completed in His name. We need to understand our assignment!

The commandments of the Lord are right,
bringing joy to the heart. The commands
of the Lord are clear, giving insight to life.
Psalm 19:8 (NLT)

They are a warning to those who hear them;
there is great reward for those who obey them.
Psalm 19:11

If we are not paying attention to our Teacher each day, if we are not willing to hear what He has to say and then listening and following His instructions, our hearts will miss out on the very best lessons we will ever learn. These lessons include “Love I, II, and III,” to name just a few. Not only will these lessons include instructions on loving others, but also even on loving ourselves, and ultimately on what it means to love God with our whole heart, with our whole soul, with all our whole mind and with all our strength!

Sometimes we get caught up in the “earthwork” and we forget that the earthwork is only a tool that God uses to help us get to know Him better. We get all wrapped around what we are doing, and forget that we should be wrapped around God instead. We focus on the assignment and forget the purpose of the assignment.

It reminds me of an assignment my nephew was given recently by his teacher. He is in the 5th grade here in Chino, California, and he was to do a map of the colonial states with his family. It was to be molded on a board, building the mountains, carving out the rivers, then painted and labeled. Jim and I happened to be there on the day this project was being done so we got involved…as “family.” Jim was on the computer printing out maps, I was sketching the states on the board, my sister-in-law was mixing up the dough, and my brother and my nephew were using the dough to mold the map on the board. Our focus was all on the assignment and yet it is important to also realize what God was doing in our hearts. He was bringing us together as a family, to laugh, to use the creative skills He’s given to each one of us and also to build memories of this day that we would carry in our hearts forever. To the world, it looked like this was all about the assignment, but when we realize that each day is about being in God’s Classroom, it is about so much more! It is about our relationships with each other and ultimately with our God! God planned this day in advance. He drew up the lesson plan and brought in the “students,” and He watched as we came together to complete what He had set before us. God was teaching us what it looks like to use the gifts He gives each one of us to complete the work He sets before us. It was a smaller version of the total church body working together.

But you must remain faithful to the things
you have been taught. You know they are true,
for you know you can trust those who taught you.
2 Timothy 3:14 (NLT)

If we cannot trust our Teacher and complete the little things He asks us to do, we will not be prepared for the larger tasks He is calling us to. That’s why we have to take, “Love I” before we are ready to tackle, “Love III.” If we can’t work peacefully around a table as a family on a simple assignment, how do we as believers work out in the world around all the chaos and confusion? How do we keep our peace there, if we cannot keep it around a table constructing a simple map of the original colonies?

In another song that my brother and I are working on for the future, the chorus says:

Open up my eyes Lord / open up my heart
Reach deep inside of me / I need your healing touch to start
Then I can touch another / and they can reach out too
As long as we remember / it begins and ends with You
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That’s what it’s all about…our Lord. It begins with Him, it ends with Him, and everything in between has to do with Him. He is the Great Teacher! If we’re daydreaming our way through this life, it’s time to stop. It’s time to pay attention, to focus, and to complete the assignments He has given us and continues to give us. Not so we can hold them up and say, “Look what I have done!” But instead, so that we can say, “Look what the Lord has done while I was paying attention to Him!”

As the Scriptures say, "The person who wishes
to boast should boast only of what the Lord has done."
2 Corinthians 10:17 (NLT)

Then when we arrive Home from “school”-- when we pass through the doorway of heaven and come face to face with our Father, He will be able to say to us, “Well done.” The work in our heart will be made complete because we were not daydreaming our way through this life, missing out on all the lessons that our Teacher had planned. We will see them for what they are, we will embrace them and they will have prepared us for the tests we must face along the way.

Just to let you know the “Rest of the Story,” we all got an “A” on our map of the colonies!! We laughed, and we joked and we grew closer to one another because of the experience we had shared and the memories we will take away from the assignment God had given us on that day! I have to believe that the “A” really means very little to God, because what He was really grading us on with that assignment was how well we worked together in love, no matter what the task.

Continuing to learn,

Diane