We encounter many excuses for why someone doesn’t want to teach. If they do teach, perhaps they don’t invest enough time and energy. Perhaps they aren’t effective. They just seem to be lacking a sense of priority, purpose, passion, and/or power. To help them, we need to get to the root of the issues Bible teachers have.
Issues Bible Teachers Have Point to Something They Lack
God has “blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ” (Eph. 1:3) and has given us “everything we need for a godly life” (2 Pet. 1:3) so we shouldn’t be lacking what we need to overcome issues related to our teaching. Yet … Bible teachers often have issues that affect their teaching.
Time issues are often a lack of priority.
We usually make time for what we view as important. If teachers don’t view teaching as a high priority, they will either put minimal investment into lesson preparation or will let frustration and stress take over as they struggle to fit it in to their busy schedules.
Vision issues stem from a lack of purpose.
If teachers can’t envision the good that can come out of their teaching, they haven’t found a good enough reason for teaching. If we don’t have a good reason for teaching, other than that somebody has to do it or we’d feel guilty saying no, then we’ll tend to just show up and do the bare minimum. Apathy will guide us rather than a vision of what God can do in and through us.
Heart issues exhibit themselves as a lack of passion.
When our heart isn’t into what we do, it is easy for discouragement to take over when the slightest obstacle comes our way. We’ll have more of a tendency to quit rather than persevere.
Faith issues result in a lack of power.
To overcome fears and insecurities in teaching, we need faith — faith to believe in the Lord’s constant presence, faith to believe that His grace is sufficient, faith to believe that we can do all things through the strength He provides, etc.. Without faith, we won’t grab hold of all He provides to make us effective.
— Let’s deal with the issues but point to how God has “granted everything we need” (2 Pet. 1:3). —