God's Teaching Style

One educational expert claims that we learn…

• 10 percent of what we read,
  
• 20 percent of what we hear,
  
• 30 percent of what we see,
• 50 percent of what we see and hear,
  
• 70 percent of what we discuss with others,
  
• 80 percent of what we experience, and
  
• 95 percent of what we teach to someone. (William Glasser)
  

(And, of course, our most effective learning happens when we do all of the above!)

I have been reflecting on God's teaching style... Like all good teaching, it has two parts: theory and practice.

Theory is essential. It is important to learn about God... to learn what God loves and deplores, what He has done in the past and plans to do in the future. We learn all this through personal Bible reading and listening to talks and sermons by knowledgeable Biblical experts.

Being active in a Christian community is also important. Active church involvement allows us to see God in action, as we watch people change, pray for the sick to be healed, and have opportunities to learn from each other and encourage each other. Discussing faith issues in small groups also helps us learn and grow... We also "teach" by sharing what we have learned with friends we trust...

But this (in teaching terms) is classroom stuff ...

Real learning cannot occur without real-life practice... testing the theory. Often this involves experiencing difficult times - when we can do nothing but TRUST GOD TO ACT, because nothing we do seems to be doing much good!

This part of learning really isn't much fun! But it is essential! If we claim to have faith in God, we need to know what this means. When we come to the point where we really can do nothing to help ourselves... and we need help desperately ... Then cry out in prayer to a loving Father God who is there...

When God comes to the rescue (and He will!) ... When we experience God's intervention again and again and again... we learn to TRUST our "CAN-DO-WILL-DO" LOVING GOD.

TRUST is the first thing a child has to learn to develop into an emotionally healthy adult...

TRUST is also essential in a life of faith. As we learn to TRUST GOD again and again and again... (over a lifetime!) we will - hopefully - eventually get it!

Yet, for some reason, TRUST is something I (personally) also constantly need to RE-LEARN! (Like food, my TRUST seems to have a limited shelf-life!) I keep going back to thinking that it's all up to me - when in reality it's a joint effort... I do what I can... pray... and TRUST GOD TO HELP THE GOOD STUFF GROW!

Over time we realize that we need to trust God for EVERYTHING!

That's all there is!!

Everything we have - health, family, friends, homes, jobs - are all gifts from God.

But the reality of that is only learned through experience.