Steel Toes Required

There are books that should carry a warning that steel-tipped footwear are necessary because the author will stomp on your toes in grand fashion. I am still hobbling from a passage read yesterday from D. A. Carson's book, A Call to Spiritual Reformation.

I worry about the rising number who, when asked where and how they think they might best serve, respond with something like this: "Well, I think I would like to teach somewhere. Every time I have taught, people have told me I have done a pretty good job. I get a tremendous sense of fulfillment out of teaching the Bible. I think I could be satisfied teaching Scripture."

How pathetic....In any Christian view of life, self-fulfillment must never be permitted to become the controlling issue. The issue is service, the service of real people. The question is, "How can I be most useful?, not, How can I feel most useful?

Those paragraphs struck me deeply because I had wanted to "teach somewhere" and "be satisfied teaching Scripture." Where is my source of contentment? Of course there is a difference, I am twice the age of a typical MDiv graduate. That alone adds credence to finishing my years teaching others the Word of God in an academic setting.

While academia has a certain pull for me (maybe a part-time position?), I greatly enjoy teaching in the context of the local church. And truth be known, that is actually a better setting for this ministry, because you can deal with the student as a disciple rather than as a student in a program.