As the semester winds down, I'm reflecting on the joy it is to be in the classroom. Teaching has been the best thing that ever happened to me after my conversion to Christ and my marriage to Becky. Why on earth the Lord believed in me and championed me like he did I haven't the slightest idea, but I'll be eternally grateful because he's the one that called me into this wonderful work. So much love to my Greek class. We've shared participles and principal parts together and still like each other. Our adventure in learning New Testament Greek will shortly come to an end. The difficult has turned into our life's mission and we will never go back.
Which brings me to the passage of Scripture I was studying this morning in my devotionals -- 1 Corinthians 3.
See, I am always looking out for repetition in Paul, and boy do we have it here in spades -- "God's ... God's ... God's!" Paul is saying (my paraphrase ), "Because Apollos and I work together with God, you are a field under his cultivation, or, if you like, a building being built to his plan. I planted, Apollos watered, but it's God alone who can make things grow."
Farmers like me know one thing. Our own contributions to a successful harvest are minimal compared to the contribution of the One who created the soil and provides the sun and the rain. I am writing this blog post today from a place of repentance, not arrogance. I am ashamed of all the times I may have left the impression that my students' success is dependent on their teacher's skill. It isn't. It never was. We -- teacher and students alike -- are sharing in the work of God. The Spirit is the one who fills our empty minds with an understanding of Greek grammar and launches us into ministry with that valuable asset in our toolboxes. I won't defile my blessings by imagining that I deserve them. It's all "God's." That's the magic. Jesus' kingdom continues in the same way it was launched -- through behaving like we truly believe that the surpassing greatness of the power is of him, not of us. When we do this, then and only then will we be able to align ourselves correctly with the humble ministry of Jesus, knowing that one day we will cast all of our crowns at his feet.