Teach One Another 4

Colossians 3:15-17

Teaching another person to do the things that you are skilled at doing can be quite frustrating sometimes. There are many times where I have gotten irritated with a learner because they don’t seem to grasp the ideas that I know so well. Likewise, I have been the difficult learner, unable to understand or remember what I was taught, causing frustration and flare-ups of tempers in those who are teaching.

But as Christians we need to have patience in our instruction and teaching. We are to allow peace to rule in our hearts because we are of the family of God. We are brothers and sisters of Jesus, and he is the Prince of Peace.

Paul offers some guidance in teaching in this passage. What two things are instructed in verse 15? What will guide us in our teaching, according to verse 16? How are we to go about teaching?

Teaching faith involves so much more than reading from the Bible or examining Biblical commentaries. To teach faith we must live as examples of that faith. Being a true example of what it means to believe and trust in the Lord is perhaps the best and most effective way to lead others.

But those who are new to the faith and those who may be struggling with their own place in the kingdom of God may frustrate those who are trying to teach about God. It may seem difficult to accept that others are not in the same place spiritually that we are in. But we cannot allow our own frustration, and indeed our own motivation and selfish ambitions, to be the controlling factors in our teaching.

We need to have the peace of Christ in us and we need to offer instruction in the name of the Lord. When that is the motivation and what controls our teaching, when the word of God has grown and developed within our own hearts, we can truly lead others into a strong faith with Christ.

As you lead others in the faith be certain that the word of Christ dwells richly in you, and allow the peace of Christ rule your instruction.

DAILY CHALLENGE: What can you do to be certain the word of Christ dwells richly in you?