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Sacred Teaching

By July 15, 2019July 26th, 2019Featured, What's New

By David Schmus

I still remember the day my thinking changed about my marriage. My wife and I had been married about 10 years but were reeling from the divorces, after 30 and 40 years, of both of our parents. Suddenly, the security we believed we had felt like shifting sand. 

That day I picked up a book given to us by someone very wise, and read the tagline: “What if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy?”* This book, Sacred Marriage, gave me a vision for marriage in which God’s purpose for the gift of my wife was not to meet my every need, but to train me to meet many of hers. Rather than looking to my wife as the source of my happiness, I could find my joy in the Lord and allow that joy to be a blessing to her. Sacred Marriage is a call to radical trust in the Lord—to see every trial, every argument, every disappointment in marriage as an opportunity for Him to train me to respond in love.

This may not sound all rainbows and unicorns, but when a husband and wife actually live this out—isn’t that the marriage we all want? This kind of selfless marriage fosters our own flourishing, and becomes a safe harbor not only for each other, but for our children as well. Along the way we get a lot of fun and happiness as a fringe benefit, even though it wasn’t the main goal. Don’t you find God typically works like that?

As a fifteen-year public school educator, I learned that God does this in teaching as well. I taught AP US History and Civics/Government to high school juniors and seniors, and I loved it! But one year my department chair informed me that, despite being the most senior teacher in our department, I would be teaching two sections of English for those students who had not yet passed our state’s high school exit exam. 

Anger, entitlement, and fear immediately rose up. “But I’m not credentialed for English…I teach Social Science! Can’t someone else do it? Why me?” 

But fortunately, another voice—more quiet and gentle than my emotions—was also speaking. “I am in this. I work all things to good for those who love me. Trust me.” 

It was a process (though not long…I had only a day or two to respond!). I surrendered to the Lord and faced this new challenge with as good an attitude as I could muster. Many of my students were recent immigrants, and wanted to learn but faced language challenges. Others had given up on themselves, or had been given up on by others. I still remember the shock when one of my students told me, “You’re the only teacher that makes me work.” 

Because this was a second “elective” English class for these students, there was no curriculum. Though a social science teacher, I was somehow supposed to improvise. By the end of the first semester I had run out of worksheets, supplemental materials, Schoolhouse Rock videos, and any other hacks I could borrow or steal. I was losing momentum and connection with the students.  

As I began to pray more urgently, the Lord inspired me with an idea. It was new to me, but an old idea for many educators. I felt he wanted me to teach them English skills through a novel—and not just any novel, but a story about a young boy growing up in Boston during the American Revolution. No educational expert would have recommended using this novel for this class. The reading level wasn’t right; it sometimes used archaic language, etc. I had to spend my own money to purchase a class set, so I couldn’t assign any homework out of the book. 

Despite these challenges, this book activated my passions, and I became a much better teacher for those students. They not only learned more English, but also a value for our nation and its founding principles. By the end of that school year, 45 of my original 49 students had passed the exit exam!

The following year, I was sitting in the back of my classroom using a rubric to grade student presentations. It was a beautiful day so I had my classroom doors propped open. Suddenly I found myself quite unexpectedly enveloped in a tight hug around my neck! One of my English students, a big smile on her face and joy in her heart, came back to express her appreciation. Despite my initial reluctance to teach this class, many of my fondest memories of teaching are with those immigrant English students who needed someone who wouldn’t give up on them. 

That was my introduction to Sacred Teaching—avoiding the temptation to entitled complaint and to focus on our own happiness, comfort, or preferences, instead of trusting God to make all things work together for good as we let Him lead us. 

As educators in this entitlement culture and often highly politicized environment, it is so easy to get caught up in the focus on contract issues like salaries or health benefits. It’s easy to dwell on the problems created by a poor administrator or difficult student. The world’s response is to demand what’s coming to us—our rights! 

I’m not suggesting that issues like teacher pay aren’t important, and would never encourage an educator to simply endure an abusive situation. There are times to speak up, and we at CEAI often help our members do just that.

But if we want to experience sacred teaching and see the Fruit of the Spirit manifest in our classroom, our focus must be on Him, not on our own happiness or comfort. Jesus said in John 5:19 that He “can only do what He sees the Father doing.” He instructs us in Matthew 6:33 to “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things (i.e. food, clothing, the things we need and often chase after) will be added unto you.” 

The next day, the next week, or the next school year will almost certainly bring an unexpected and threatening development out of your control. Sometimes these changes are evil or harmful and need to be opposed. But often they are God’s invitation to sacred teaching—to seek first His kingdom, and to play your part in what the Father is doing at your school and in your life. Surrender control and trust Him to lead you. He is a good Father, who is working out all things for good for those who love Him and are called according to his purpose (Rom. 8:28). Let Him transform you into a sacred teacher.

P.S. I recently was able to preview the next Kendrick Brothers (“Courageous,” “War Room,” “Facing the Giants”) movie called “Overcomer.” It will not be in theaters until August, but I can tell you that it’s set in the context of a high school, and several of the main characters are educators. This excellent movie powerfully illustrates this concept of sacred teaching, and I am excited for you to watch it so we can discuss it together! 

*Thomas, Gary. Sacred Marriage, Zondervan, 2000.

I would love to engage with you in the comments below. Do you have a story of sacred teaching?

9 Comments

  • Mike Hicks says:

    Great article. Well written and so true. Tough, impossible assignments often bear much fruit. I think about the summer school class I taught one year that had 53 students who failed biology show up on the 1st day. There was no help, no assistance, just a Room packed full of kids that had failed and were apathetic about school. It was futile to complain so I went rogue and spent the whole first day talking about Roots of Apathy and having them write their story. God was present and not a peep was heard for an hour. They trusted me with their brokenness and a connection was made that lastsd all summer. Only 2 referrals and 47 completed, unheard of for si.mer school. God took the impossible and did something extraordinary. In the process they also learned a little biology.

  • Pam says:

    Very encouraging article. Thank you for sharing.

  • David, amen and amen!!! Thank you for this powerful article- you speak truth and I forwarding it to every teacher who is a follower of Christ that I know. I taught since the ‘90’s and now God has called me to encourage and support our next generation of educators who are under so much stress and pressure. Daily, young (and veteran) teachers tell me they go home in tears each night or are considering walking away from a profession they love- due to the stress and problems. I am both heartbroken and alarmed. I agree with you completely- God’s children who He has called to be teachers have the potential to bring light and truth to a generation of young people… but we MUST lean into Christ, receiving His strength and His wisdom in order to be overcomers! This is our time. The classroom is our mission field. I am praying for you and your organization. You are doing great work for the kingdom. I mentioned your organization in my latest book and am telling every Christian teacher I know about CEAI. Keep up the outstanding work!!

  • Catherine Scharwark says:

    This article came at a great time as I’m dreading returning to the classroom in a few weeks. I’ll be praying that God changes my attitude, because that’s truly the only thing I can control.
    I’m pretty sure I’d have theological disagreements with any movie associated with War Room, so I can’t post your article on Facebook.

  • Ramona Trevino says:

    What a beautiful example of how to embrace our assignments in teaching. It awakens my passion knowing God is in control. He has equipped us to teach with passion. Most importantly we have a different view into our students hearts. Thank you David. God bless

  • Ibby Rios says:

    David,

    What a blessing to follow a commanding officer like you who is following our great Commanding Officer and Lord – Christ Jesus.

    I was recently reading the account of Joseph in Genesis. The phrase “But the Lord was with Joseph” is very conspicuous. I recently asked myself again, “Is that enough – that the Lord was simply with him?” And the answer is “Yes.” No matter the challenges in a scholastic year; it is enough for the child of God to know that the Lord is with him. As you know, He’s the only One who can orchestrate an exquisite story in the midst of deep valleys.

    Blessings to you brother,
    Ibby

  • Andrew Wells says:

    It’s awesome to be used by the Lord in the Ministry of Education. As Christian Educators, we get the amazing God-given assignment of supporting our students as their teacher, but we also have a role to pray for them and be used as intercessors who go to the Lord on their behalf. He gives us wisdom, especially when we ask and spend time in prayer for our students, mostly ourselves, but it’s best to have some time in prayer with at least one other person – ““Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.”
    ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭18:19‬ ‭NKJV‬‬
    I took a class with a professor who did his dissertation on students who were not doing well and then improved tremendously. He went and interviewed staff members at the schools of about 10 randomly selected students. He asked the staff, including their principal, 10 questions, the last being, “Did someone pray for them?” 9 out of 10 were prayed for daily by someone.
    We can be one who prays regularly for our students, as we encourage them to do well speaking words of life to them. And with the Lord’s guidance, we can help them accomplish more than they would ever be able to accomplish alone. Help us Lord Jesus.

  • Ray Ann George says:

    Dear Mr. Schmus,
    Thank you so much for your article “Sacred Teaching”. I sent a copy of your article to a fellow teacher who was praying about whether to accept a challenge she has never faced before in her teaching career. She works in a private school and due to some downsizing this coming school year, they have asked her to teach a combined second and third grade class. She really struggled with what her decision should be. Your article was very helpful to her as it spoke to her heart. She has made the decision to take the challenge and teach the combined class. I believe God is going to provide for her and help her to become a sacred teacher.
    I am going to forward this article to the principal of this school which is the school from which I recently retired. I know it will be a blessing to her also.
    May God’s blessings be upon you in your ministry to educators.

  • Teri Nieveen says:

    I learned to trust God in my teaching career as well. I taught 1st grade for 20 years and had no desire to go any lower. However, my principal told me I was moving to Kindergarten as that was a large class and we needed 2 classrooms (we were a small school with one room per grade). That is the last grade I wanted to teach! After praying about it, I felt God was calling me there, and I ended up there 10 years! I am now a Title teacher, but I learned that God does work through me and with me.