In this lesson, I will share with you a parable that I wrote a very long time ago, but I would like it to become part of our curriculum as well.
When I ask God to give me love, what do I feel? What happens to me? By and large, nothing. I am still the same, and everyone around me is still the same. What am I expecting? I expect something suddenly to happen and cause me to love everyone. But everything remains as it was. Yet God has heard and answered. He delights in such prayers, and He has a very good school called life. So He places me in the first grade—or, better yet, in the preparatory class—and begins to teach me.
I look at the eighth-grade students and think, ‘Why am I not like them?’ They seem to love all their enemies, friends, and relatives so easily. I want to do the same, but I do not know what it takes, so I continue to pray. Just in case, I also consider many of the older students hypocrites. But the Teacher continues to instruct me. He surrounds me with angry people. He sends deceivers my way. He permits circumstances in which I fall and get dirty as I interact with different people. I learn that my friends are gossiping about me, and I do not understand how to go on living, yet I still want to learn and ask Him to give me love.
Suddenly, I realize that I am very dirty and that, in this condition, my love for my neighbor will repel him and provoke disgust and ridicule. So I ask for a clean heart, the water of life, and undefiled air. The Teacher takes me to the bathhouse and washes me; then He gives me clean clothes and leads me back to school. And I continue learning.
I observe other people and observe myself. Once again, angry people come, and they all want me to show them Jesus. I tell them that He is in Heaven, but they want to see Him in me. Once again, I fall; once again, I get dirty; and once again, I go to the bathhouse. But the Teacher takes me by the right hand and tells me about His love, about how precious I am to Him, and about how He helps and instructs me. I begin to notice that, with time, I am becoming calmer, growing less irritable, and seeing something beautiful in my neighbors.
The angry people no longer seem as bad or as dangerous as they once did; now they simply seem unhappy. They desperately long to find a friend who will love them for no reason at all. I am looking for such a friend too. When I find one among the older students, I walk with him until we reach the first crossroads of differing opinions. Then I continue alone in my own direction, while my friend waits and smiles.
I fall, but now I know what to do next. I run to the Teacher, and He instructs and comforts me, then once again takes me to the bathhouse. Afterward, He leads me back to school, where I again see angry people with unkind hearts, but they no longer trouble me. I understand that this is how they defend themselves, for I was once the same way. Now they look rather pitiful to me because they do not attend my school; they only linger nearby. They beat the students and shout at us to show them Jesus. But the older students urge us to pray for these unhappy people and to think about how we can help them recognize the Teacher in my life and how we can show them the way of salvation by our example. I see that many students closely resemble my Teacher; their character and their manner of conduct are the same as His. I feel myself being drawn ever more strongly to my Mentor, spend more and more time with Him, and sense His support in every circumstance.
I notice that many new students are entering our school. They constantly fall and get dirty, and I want so much to help them, but they look at me and see a hypocrite. Yet as I look at them, I recognize myself. Then I understand that I love. I had realized it before but did not know how to explain it, so I quietly rejoiced within, thinking that it would pass. Instead, it grows ever greater and deeper. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. It is nothing short of a miracle! I look at the graduates of our school. Each of them bears the seal of our Teacher upon the forehead, and they have a special message for the whole world. How I long to be among them! I begin to pray for greater love. It seems that nothing is happening, but I know that the Teacher has already devised something for me, and I ask Him to give me strength to stand. I see that my clothes no longer become dirty and that my legs have grown stronger, yet I understand that the ground around me is very slippery. So I grasp my Mentor’s hand more firmly and continue on my way, dreaming of greater love. The Teacher holds me securely, and throughout my education He has never left me unattended. I am no longer disappointed because I know Him Whom I have believed. The crossroads of differing opinions no longer lead me astray. I see the goal and move confidently toward it. The Teacher leads me to school and surrounds me with angry people whom I now simply love. Then He invites me to become a mentor to the students who enter the school, so that I too may experience the joy of passing God’s treasures from heart to heart. What happiness this is! I teach others!
Another brick in our little house of happiness is called ‘I teach.’ It is the twin brother of the brick called ‘I learn.’ They form one whole and cannot live without each other.
If I only receive knowledge about Eternal things and do not share it with others, my little river will turn into a stagnant, foul-smelling swamp. If I teach others without continuing to learn myself, my spring will run dry. I will burn out emotionally, my heart will become empty, and I will turn into ‘a squeezed lemon.’
But God has a plan. This is His plan: if I desire to understand something better, I need to explain it to others. I should not claim the title of teacher for myself. Yet as I learn, I can pass on my knowledge. When I receive knowledge, I am going through the learning process; when I begin answering questions or completing assignments, I am also instructing those who listen to me, and this has a mutual influence on us.
I evangelize. This is a form of mentoring. During this process, I share the light I have received and teach others what I have only just learned myself. The most beautiful understanding of truth comes precisely when I begin sharing it with others.
To have the testimony of Jesus is to receive knowledge and light from Him and pass them on. It is impossible to testify about something you do not know, have not learned, or that does not correspond to the truth.
The Eternal School of Agape Love will never end, and we have been given a good beginning so that we may develop continually in this knowledge of God. A student cannot rise above his teacher, but if both are studying an Eternal science, they will continually grow and will never comprehend the full measure of its knowledge. Yet they will ceaselessly discover something new about God’s love so that they may share it with others throughout Eternity.
I teach. This means Eternal dependence upon my Heavenly Teacher, Who has prepared immeasurable riches of knowledge for us so that He may gradually give them to us and grant us the joy of passing this knowledge on to other students.
Does the Eternal prospect of forever being both a student and a teacher frighten you? When we consider that the Eternal subject of our study and discoveries will be God’s Eternal Agape Love, I believe even Eternity itself will not be enough to contain all the knowledge we receive.
We are only just beginning, so that we may continue this learning without end and always remain witnesses of God’s love. Yet a school journey lasting billions of years begins with the first lesson, one small step, and the decision to become a disciple of Christ. And He will teach us and establish us.
Bible verses for this chapter:
Matthew 5:1–2; 9:14; 10:1; 23:7–8; Mark 2:18; 4:34; Luke 6:20–21; 14:26–27; John 8:31–32; 13:13–14, 34–35; Isaiah 8:16; 50:4; Proverbs 30:2–3; Galatians 1:11–12; Philippians 4:12