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You Who Teach Others, Do You Not Teach Yourself?

I am a teacher. I teach sixth grade language arts, and I love it. Unless something radical happens, it's what I'll be doing for a very long time, and I look forward to it. Whenever I read the word "teach" in the Bible, I perk up just a bit for obvious reasons...I try to apply the scripture to my job just as much as the rest of my life.

In Romans 2:21, Paul asks a very good question. "You, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself'?" It's so easy to fall into a mindset of, "I've arrived. I have it all together." You get in a groove, on a schedule, things are pretty much the same day in and day out, and before you know it, you have become someone who knows everything, does everything the right way, and doesn't need to learn anything new. Why continue to study the Bible when you've read it all? Why go to church when you've heard it all? Life is going pretty good...why do I need to continue the discipline?

Every relationship needs to be nurtured. I don't stop hanging out with my friends because we've arrived at friendship. It wouldn't continue if we didn't continue to pursue it! Yes, we are friends, but our relationships grow and change every day that we spend together. Our time with Jesus is the same. Just like our tangible relationships, we must nurture our relationship with Christ. We have to spend time with Him. We have to learn from Him. We have to continue to teach ourselves every single day if we ever expect to sustain a life that teaches others about Him.

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