Not Too Late

One of our church pastors, Rev. Raggi Aungon, lent me a book written by David Platt two Sundays ago. The book was a narrative of Platt’s trek to the Himalayas and how that trek became a life-changing experience for him. I gained a lot of snippets from the book and few reflections I’d love to share with people. As I write this journal, there is stir in my heart on going back to writing. This time, however, it is no longer about the things here below but on things above.

 

“These teachers are passionate about both physical need [in this case, education] and spiritual need [in every case, the gospel]. They don’t choose between the two, even while they prioritize the spiritual. They know education is huge for opening up all kinds of opportunities. But they also know that education alone won’t open eternal life,” Aaron said to David when they visited a school in the Himalayas. The teachers there aren’t some kind of paraprofessional teachers whom few or a lot of us deem as less competent than the ones teaching in big educational institutions in the west. No, definitely not! They are, in fact, professional teachers who could make it big time in the field had they chosen to stay in the comfortable zone of education. But they chose to teach children who are hardly reached by the educational system and preach Christ at the same time for their soul’s salvation.

 

I claim to be a Christian who happens to be a teacher. I’ve heard and read a lot (as in a lot!) of challenges and encouragements on being a light in the field where God sent me. I have tried countless times to answer the call on preaching the gospel inside my classroom and sharing it to my colleagues. After reading that portion of David’s journey in the Himalayas, I started examining what I had done and have been doing all these years. Of course, the result isn’t God-honoring. All I did was like hitting a goal, checking a checklist, doing a yearly “resolution”. Shame washed over me. What a mediocre Christian I was! May God forbid me to remain this way. May He create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me.

 

As a new school year begins, it is my desire and prayer that Christ will be glorified and lifted high in my life as a teacher. May He enable me to not just deliver quality education to the students He will put under my care this year but, above all, preach to them the gospel and disciple them all throughout. It’s not yet too late to start all over again, right? Only this time it’s not just about me relying on my own ability but surrendering to God’s leading.