As Bible teachers who want to advance the work of God, we must set an example of what matters most to Him — that we love God with all of who we are which spills over into loving people. Is our goal truly love? Can we honestly say we have a good conscience about our teaching and how we treat students? Or, do we live in the realm of good intentions?
What It Means to Love from a Good Conscience
Goodness is seen in its beneficial effects. Can we look at our teaching as advancing the work of God and beneficial to our students’ lives? Will we be able to stand before God and hear “Well done, good and faithful servant” based on the way we prepare and present lessons and invest in students’ lives? Keep in mind that:
- Inadequate preparation goes against God’s desire for us to correctly handle His Word (2 Tim. 2:15) and shows a disregard for wanting the best for our students.
- Allowing the presentation of the lesson to get off on inconsequential and controversial issues points away from what’s most important to God (1 Tim. 1:3-5) and does little to build up the students.
- Failing to pray for God’s continued work in students’ lives and follow up with them suggests we’ve just done our duty and don’t really care about them and the advancement of God’s work in their lives (1 Thess. 2:7-8).
What Happens When We Don’t Love from a Good Conscience
We lack integrity.
We use manipulative tactics to get students’ cooperation or involvement. We twist truth, even if just a bit, to make it palatable to students so they keep coming.
Reality Check: “Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.” (1 Cor. 13:6)
We inwardly despise certain students.
We inwardly hate unruly, uncooperative, or belligerent students but put on a false front. But, we can only put on a front so long until what’s inside spills out (Lk. 6:43-45) into offensive behavior like overreacting in ways that are hurtful and demeaning
Reality Check: “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.” (1 Jn. 4:20)
We become self-condemning.
We know we aren’t really approaching teaching in ways that please God and benefit students and feel guilty but still don’t change. The cycle perpetuates itself until we begrudge our responsibilities and want to quit or maybe even take it out on students.
Reality Check: “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” (1 Jn. 4:18)
Only when we have a pure heart will we have a good conscience resulting in having done our best to present ourselves to God “as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed” (2 Tim. 2:15).