THE GOOD TEACHER

I once read that, “The good teacher is a good student.” The scriptures tell us, “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.” With this mixture we can begin to see a pattern that is very important. The good teacher is not a good teacher until he has been a good student and the student is not a teacher until he has been a good student.

When Jesus explained this to his disciples he said, “for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” He also said, “For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.” Jesus was a good student of the Father. He listened and learned and spoke what he had been taught. Before he was a good teacher he was a good student.

We should gladly be part of this pattern of learning. We should willingly be good students if we ever expect to be good teachers. And what teacher ever stops being a good student?

“No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” Jesus