It's All Relational

I teach High School. I have done so for many years. Prior to that I worked as a youth director in a church. So most of my adult life has been filled with adolescents. Keeps me young. They also teach me a lot along the way. But I teach them as well, and many times not just school subjects.  I pray that each day would provide an opportunity to present God and Jesus to them.

I know that sounds a bit odd. Do I have my Bible ever present or do I constantly swing the conversation around to religion?  No, never. I believe that I bring God with me into every situation. The Bible teaches that believers in Jesus have his Spirit in them. At the moment we place our life in Jesus’, he places his Spirit in us.  So within me I have the power of God.  That sounds even odder than an ever present Bible, doesn’t it?

Since Christianity isn’t a works-based belief (my salvation isn’t based on what I do or don’t do), and it is based on what Christ did for us; it only makes sense that a just and loving God would provide a way for us to meet his standard. He paid the penalty for our brokenness (sin) with Jesus’ death. But it’s pretty obvious that everyone who has placed their faith in Jesus still sins. Many Christians try in vain to hide that obvious fact, but we do still sin.  And if we could do nothing to “save” us from sin, we probably can’t do anything to stop sinning, period. God planned for that as well, and gives us his Holy Spirit to live out that life for us, fulfill God’s commands through us.

Obviously we Christians don’t do a very good job letting the Spirit live those things out in us. But, that’s the goal.  Every day I seek to have the Holy Spirit in control, and to recognize when he no longer is. When he is in control, the Bible teaches that I present Christ to the world. The metaphor the Bible uses is “fruit”. When the Spirit controls me, I bear his fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

When I encounter my students, I want the Spirit’s fruit to be present. When it is, I can love unconditionally; I can be patient, less anxious and kind. And when this happens, it sometimes gets noticed, and kids ask questions. I can answer questions. Most often I just accept them where they are, and they feel that love, God’s love. I can provide a safe place to talk. And God brings the kids who are searching for answers and they ask those questions.

I do not act in any “heavy handed” way. I just can’t do that. If questions come, I answer.  I don’t lead with “Jesus is the answer.” My husband used to encounter a person who would drive by the bus shelter where my husband waited for his ride, and throw out Christian pamphlets.  You heard me, threw them out of his car window as he drove by.  I am sure he believed he was witnessing to the lost. Reality was that people waiting for their bus at best thought he was a litterer, and at worst a crackpot. I’m not sure how many were drawn to the Lord. That kind of witness just doesn’t work for most people

Relationships work. Like Jesus, God calls us to come along side others and just share our lives.  He calls us to love unconditionally, to open our lives to everyone around us. Then, if we are letting His Spirit control us and bear his fruit, they will also see Jesus. Sometimes they will then want to ask what makes us tick, and the door gets thrown open.

 I made the goal to show my students Jesus. I do it very weakly. I do it very inconsistently. But I begin each day praying for the Spirit’s filling of my life and the presence of his fruit, so my students can see Jesus in me and feel his love.  

Of course, most of them do not know what they are seeing. But I know they feel my acceptance and love. I know that because they hang out in my office. They come back after graduation. They write me notes. And every once in a while they share that along the way they have found Jesus, and recognized that I shared his Spirit with them.

Jesus surrounded himself with real people. They were drawn to him, because they could feel his love and acceptance. I believe that is our model for sharing our faith – relationships. The world needs more friends and less drive by witnessing.