Ephesians 1:23: “which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” (NASB)
I am a former middle school teacher. I loved teaching middle school. You might have just thought, “Has she lost her mind?” But I say. . .
Those sweet creatures that have been taken over by hormone aliens … ARE MY PEOPLE!
Three examples to defend my case are:
1- Middle School Students tend to overreact; I am of the female kind. Well, there it is, lest I say more?
2- Middle School Students grow at different rates. I struggle with rapid waist growth, too, when I can’t put my fork down and tend to lose the weight much slower than others. Can I get an A-men?
3- Middle School Students learn at varying rates. That statement can also be true for Spiritual growth. While I can know what the word of God says, sometimes it just takes me longer to learn what it really means and how it applies to my life. Some verses have taken me almost an entire lifetime.
Teaching to accommodate the various rates and methods at which students learn can be a daunting task for teachers. Because teachers must adjust their lesson plans for these variations, writing weekly plans is nothing short of painting a Michelangelo masterpiece. However, teachers must accomplish this weekly. But to God this task is never daunting. He loves us with a love that will not let us go regardless of our different learning pace.
Measuring students’ progress is also difficult because of the varying pace of learning, but there was one strategy I had that I could always count upon when it came to measuring whether or not the students had been paying attention.
On their tests I would include a fill-in-the-blank section.
Now, for some classes I had to give word choices and/or word hints. Other classes no prompts were needed, but, this one section was always confirmation to me of whether my students had listened and learned the precept. If they could complete the sentence with the missing word, words or phrases, I knew they had been paying attention.
I was never trying to trick them. I was just checking to see if my students had listened to their Social Studies lesson or if they had been day dreaming or distracted that week. Hmmm, that concept can also be true Scripturally. Ephesians 1:23 says, Jesus who fills in all … whoa, what?
So, those blanks that I do not have an answer to actually do have an answer.
~Those blanks about my health and the results or my recent health screening.
~Those blanks about my career.
~Those blanks about my children’s (even adult children’s) futures.
~Those blanks about whether I will have children or grandchildren.
~Those blanks about my finances.
~Those blanks where God ask me to live by faith and not by sight when I can’t see anything.
Hmm, am I striking a cord with anyone yet?
Jesus fills in the blank. What an encouragement to know that I don’t need to even attempt to fill them in, attempt to control them, nor do I need to worry about them. I just need to trust Jesus, and that He is fully able to fill in all my blanks!
Now, here is a test for you … fill-in-the-blank:
Today, I am not certain how this circumstance works out, but I do know that I can trust _________.
You passed,
Yes. . . Jesus is always the ANSWER.