STUDENTS IN THE PITS
Prayer: Lord, give me a heart for and the skills necessary to serve and bring to Your light the students that live in the greatest darkness and are the furthest from You.
Scripture: God has delivered me from going down to the pit and I shall live to enjoy the light of life. Job 33:28 NIV
Our call as educators is to help students ascend to the hope and future God has planned for them. Some of the students we serve, however, have peers, siblings, parents, media idols, and others that have dug pits for them into which they have fallen. Many youth have been spiritually, emotionally, and physically wounded and they dwell continually in these invisible pits. For these abused, neglected, and abandoned children these pits can be quite deep and quite dark. Some of the wounded in our classrooms are busily digging their own pits deeper, tunneling and setting traps and snares for others. Living in these pits is their normal. These students exhibit destructive behaviors toward themselves and others.
You are God’s flexible rope ladder He wants to throw into these pits and tunnels. You are a part of His rescue team because you are letting Jesus lead you in your classroom this year as never before. He came to set captives free and He dwells in you. As you follow Jesus’ teaching – to forgive, return good with evil, go the extra mile, pray in your closet, agree in prayer with other teachers, continually thank and praise, encourage always, correct in love, and share the fruit of the Spirit, you are creating knots in a rope ladder God can lower down to students in these pits and tunnels. Each act of your obedience to God is like a knot tied in the rope that gives the youth a chance to grip, hold onto, and experience the life and love of Jesus which can set them free.
Remember that Jesus came for the unrighteous, not the righteous. He came for the sick, not the healthy. Remember always that Christ in you is the deliverer, not you. Remember also that Jesus Himself could not save every person. Many rejected Him as many of your wounded students may reject you and the love of Christ you offer them. Don’t take this as a personal failure or believe it is a result of your lack of faith or obedience. Your job is to obey Christ. The results are in His hands.
Reflection: What student am I serving now who seems to be the furthest from God and in the greatest darkness? What is God calling me to do to serve this student?
Copyright Don Clark. Email [email protected]