Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Keeping the Word Alive—The Teacher Gift

And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.  And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day
Genesis 1:9-13

On the third day, God planted trees, herbs and seed bearing pants. Plants drew nutrients from the earth and converted them into wood, food, and herbs for nourishment. The seed uses the inert life of the earth and transforms it into a usable form. That is also the role of a teacher, yet the seed that the teacher uses is truth.  They might not seem to have a lot of life, but they have the ability to unleash the potential in people and make them fruitful. People with the teacher gift have an unquenchable thirst for truth. The teacher operates under the principle of responsibility and battles selective responsibility. The teacher gift has authority over generational blessing, as they bring forth fruit. The birthright of the teacher gift is to know God’s deep truths, to know him experientially, and to reveal the presence of God to others. Often, the teacher gift’s major weaknesses are passiveness, selective responsibility, a battle between sight and faith, as well as a battle between doctrine and intimacy.
The teacher has a compulsion to validate the truth, a truth that this gift often validates by firsthand investigation. The teacher tends to validate new truth with an established truth. For this gift, the details of historical accuracy are important.
Biblical Example of the servant redemptive gift—Luke.