We are the branches, and God is the vine. When we abide in Him, we bear much fruit. But in order to grow much fruit, God needs to prune the branches as we grow. I want to begin a series of blogs to describe some of the many ways God has been growing me this year. He has been pruning me a lot and there seems to be a common theme. This theme is that God has been taking all the things that I have told myself and others that “I am Not” and showing me that “I am” and “I Can” through Him.
The first one I want to talk about is me being a Teacher.
Before the World Race, I had done 3 years of Bible College. Here I was surrounded by many people who were Teachers. I am talking about those who have a gift of Teaching, as talked about in Romans 12. Some were my professors, and others were my fellow classmates. One of my best friends who attended the school named Andrew had an evident Teaching gift. Andrew and I were good friends, but we always butt heads because of our differences. So I safely assumed I didn’t have the gift of teaching, because “I am nothing like Andrew”. Also, I knew I was an exhorter. And so exhorters are normally good at preaching, which I loved to do. So I didn’t think that I was both a preacher and a teacher. So I stuck with the one and went on with life, content, and sure I didn’t have the gift of teaching.
On the 3rd month of the Race in March, I was in South Africa. Here my team was partnered with an awesome church filled with the Holy Spirit and focused on discipling their members. One of their pastors did a teaching with us on the Romans 12 gifts. These include prophecy, serving, teaching, exhorting (encouraging), giving, leading and mercy. We were going to be taking a test after and I knew that 2 of my gifts were exhorting and giving. Something that this pastor taught us also was how to see Gifting’s in other people. He had been studying these gifts for a while and was able to point out what people’s gifts were, even if he barely knew the person. I told the pastor, “I know I am an exhorter and giver. You will probably say Teacher too, but it’s wrong”. So he said, “We’ll see”.
So a few days later I took the test. My top gifting was exhorter and my third was giving. In second place, Teacher! After viewing this particular gifts study and seeing the many traits of a teacher, it was actually quite obvious how much of a Teacher I am. I began to think back to my friend Andrew and compared me to him again. I began to notice that we are actually very similar in a lot of ways. And this is why we bonked heads so much.
Something about teachers is that they desire TRUTH. They are not often run by feeling and emotions. They are guided by truth. And so when you get two people who love truth into a room and they find something they disagree with, it can get pretty nasty. I wish I would have understood this years ago. It would have saved me from a lot of unnecessary arguments.
In the past 5 months since this new discovery, I now have been able to see how much of a Teacher I truly am. It comes out in all my relationships and interactions with people. I have discovered how powerful a gift of teaching can be when used with Holiness and righteousness. I have also seen some areas that I need to work on with this gift.
One of these areas is in intimacy. God has been teaching me a lot about intimacy on the Race. One of the things He was pointing out is how the teacher in me, can prevent intimacy. I noticed in my relationships, that when I talked to a person, the first thing I wanted to know was what things they were learning and then teach them all the things I am learning. I love going deep with people, so if I already know them, then I want to dive right into the meaty, spiritual stuff. And as important as this is in a relationship, I was missing the simplicity of getting to know someone for who they are. I was so focused on learning what they know and wanted to teach them stuff, rather than listen and learn who they are. I don’t often ask the basic questions, “How are you?” “What did you do today?” What’s your family like?” etc.
So I have been learning to start with the surface level stuff and focus on intimacy with people. I try to listen more and take in all that a person wants to share with me before I share stuff that I want to teach someone. I have been growing in intimacy with people now because of this. Its definitely a inner struggle. I am a very good listener, but I love to talk as well. So I have been learning to die to myself more and listen more than talk. It has benifitted my relationships greatly.
I now confidently tell people that I am a teacher. This is an area God has gifted me in and is developing in me this year. There are a few more things God has been showing me that I am. Things that I have told myself for a while that I am not. So be watching for those blogs!
