Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Teaching with Grace

Several months ago, my pastor preached a sermon about parenting. 

In Colossians 3:21, fathers are commanded: "do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged." Likewise, Ephesians 6:4 says "do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in training and instruction of the Lord."

As I was listening to the sermon, I was overwhelmed by how these truths about parenting in justice and love are so applicable to me as a Christian teacher.

As teachers, we often get so caught up in the fast pace and requirements of teaching that we forget that our students are not just some product on an assembly line. Rather, they are souls that we have been given the honor of shepherding for a time.

The Grace of the Gospel


Something that is unique about Christianity is that I am not "required" to be kind to my students because I want to earn a gold star or need my good deeds to outweigh my bad. 

Instead, as a Christian, I am able to look at the failings of my students knowing that I failI can look at their misbehavior and rebellion knowing how I rebel against my God in my sinI can look at their weakness and frustration knowing that I don't have it all figured out either.

But thankfully, as a Christian, the good news is that I am not left to steep in weakness and sorrow, and I should not leave them there either. 

I may not have it all together, but I know who does. I know that when my classroom begins to fall apart, I have a sovereign King who holds the universe and everything in it together. I know that despite my dark heart and selfishness and brokenness, I am dearly, deeply, unconditionally loved. I am convicted to repent of my rebellion and am covered and forgiven. I am shown grace. But I have not just been shown grace. I have been given grace. I have tasted the sweetness of this grace. I did not just experience grace when I initially recognized Jesus as the sacrifice for my sins. I experience grace on a daily basis when I continue to mess up and am still welcomed back into loving fellowship with my Father.

God is Just    


So, as a teacher, should I not extend both accountability and grace to my students? Thankfully, the Christian God is not a willy nilly god that allows us to do whatever makes us feel good. We know what a classroom like that looks like. We would not say, "Wow, what a great teacher." We would think "Man, does that teacher really care about her kids if she is not going to hold them to any kind of standard?"

Our God is one of standards and of justice. Would He truly be good if he was not just? Does a good parent not tell his child the right way and lead him in it? Likewise, how can a parent communicate his child's worth without love? These two things go hand in hand: Justice and love.

When we only discipline our students and do it out of our own need for power rather than showing them the grace and love that has been extended to us, we exasperate them.

Your Students Have Worth


As Christians, we believe that ALL human beings, regardless of age, race, or influence, have worth. We all have worth because we are made in the image of God, the mighty, gracious, loving creator of the universe.

Start treating your students like they have worth. 

If you are a believer and you antagonize your students and blame them for everything, stop. You are an ambassador for Christ. Reflect the gospel that has been shown to you. Exhibit the grace that you live by.

I used my notes from this parenting sermon to construct some discipline guidelines for me to remember as I seek to show my students the Gospel by disciplining them through love and justice. 

May your students enter and leave your classroom knowing that they have worth and hope. May they be edified and filled. May you be salt and light in the dark, fading world that they are experiencing. May they leave you with an understanding of grace.




I Will Not
I Will


Discipline you harshly

Speak with kindness and self-control

Shame you

v Address your disobedience privately
v Discuss how your actions are bad, not how you are bad.

Highlight every misbehavior to
break your spirit


Work to see the best in you and be gracious when I don’t

Discipline you without reason


Talk with you openly and often about the “why” behind our rules

Discipline you inconsistently

Make clear expectations for everyone and uphold them daily

Discipline you out of selfishness


Remember that your misbehavior is not a personal attack

Discipline you unevenly


Spend the majority of my time affirming your positive behaviors

Discipline you without forgiveness


v Ask if we are on good terms after I discipline you
v Be intentional about showing I forgive you

Discipline without love


Tell and show you that I care about you and have high expectations for you

Discipline without listening

I will ask you questions and give you room to explain your actions

Sunday, January 10, 2016

Not a Slave







One of my students was caught skipping on the last two days of school. He skipped his finals to hang out in the woods. When discussing this decision with him, I said "Man, I'm sure those moments of freedom were great, but now that temporary freedom is exactly what is enslaving you. You are now a slave to the consequences of what you thought would be so freeing (not to mention he was literally held captive since he had to serve in school suspension). 


It's ironic that many things that we think are going to be so exhilarating and freeing actually become the very things that enslave us.

As I was reflecting on some things God put on my heart over the past year-- some areas I need to grow and change in-- I realized a theme. Almost every item on the list was something freeing
-payoff and avoid debt
-live simply-- without constant need or want for more.
-live healthy and be active
-give joyfully 
-do not use people to fill emotional needs
-learn and grow

It's as if God was saying "Brianna, don't be a slave to any of these things."... To debt, materialism, other people, poor health, my own selfishness. 

As Christians, we are called to be free. Ruled by nothing of this world. Yet, even as believers, we still seek. Many appeals of the world seem so freeing: money, sex, self-image. 

I have to admit that I quickly slide into a place of entitlement and desire for liberation: "I'm free in Christ. I shouldn't feel oppressed. If I just did this, said that, bought another, I would just feel so much better." Or would I? It certainly feels like it sometimes. I've realized that the more I want something, the more I'm invested in it, and the more it matters to me, the easier it is to convince myself that it will truly make me feel free to have it or do it. This desire is put upon a pedestal, above everything else, my idol. Like tunnel vision, I can't see anything else around me. I forget that I'm called to something else... to someone else. 

Ephesians 6:24 struck me this morning: "Grace to all who love our Lord with an undying love." An "undying" love. Woah. A living, sustained, consistent, unshakable, "undying" love. This is how I want to love the Lord. So I thought, what does that mean? 

It is biblically so clear that God is concerned about the condition of our hearts. He does not want a robot or a rule follower or even a type A teacher that writes down everything God wants her to do then checks it off the list. He wants me. All of me. All of my love, all of my passion. He wants that pedestal. He wants to be at the end of that tunnel, with my eyes fixed upon Him.

Interestingly, the rest of Ephesians 6 is about slavery, obedience, and resisting the Devil. Slaves are commanded to obey their masters with "sincerity of heart" just as they would obey Christ; not to win favor but to "do the will of God from [their] hearts." 

As Paul writes about ways to defend ourselves against the schemes of the Devil, he exposes the plot: 

"For our struggle is not one against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

Notice the words used here: struggle, rulers, authorities, powers, forces.

These words point to the fact that Satan's work is a work of oppression. He has power and ruling in this area. This is a work in which he has authority. It may have a veil of simply being about flesh and blood, but he is actually the puppeteer; the master. And what are we? The slaves.

As a defense, Paul tells us to “Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist" (Ephesians 6:14). 
And what does truth do? Based on what Jesus said, "you will know the truth and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32).

We are not called to be slaves. What I instinctually want to write here is "we are called to be FREE!" And then run along joyfully in my liberation and bliss. 
However, the opposite of enslavement is not just freedom in this case. It is so much more:

We are not meant to be slaves. We are meant to be sons.

The spirit does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." Romans 8:15

So you are no longer a slave but God's child; and since you are His child, God has made you also an heir. Galatians 4:7

Jesus came “to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.” Galatians 4:5

This is huge for me! It explains how I can deal with the same sin over and over again, thinking I have surrendered it to God, fulfilled all of the right things to do on my checklist and voila it should be gone! I should be free! So why do I fall right back into it? 
This goes back to that concept of God being concerned about our hearts. As I struggle with a recurring sin, I go through every avenue to fix the sin. But my heart is still obeying that master. Instead, God wants me to seize my sonship and recognize who I am IN HIM. Not in myself. When I look at my sin through the eyes of a daughter loved and accepted by Christ. Adopted. Made clean. Sought after. Not just freed but made an eternal heir of the King... The sin starts, little by little, to be exposed for what it is. A snare. A master. But as a daughter of the King... 

I am not a slave. 

Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. Romans 8:35



Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous be shaken. Psalm 55:22