Who is your lesson about?

In high school I had a teacher who taught history, but the lessons were always all about the students. Yes we may have been learning about people and events, but in the end the goal was for the students to appreciate the material. Any frustration she had was always a function of why we were not learning and not about how that reflected on her as a teacher. She was one of the teachers that I always knew was not teaching for the benefit of her ego but for my benefit as a student. You may say that it doesn't matter - "what difference does it make as long as we learn history?" That is like asking what difference does it make why you give to charity - "as long as they get the money who cares if you're just doing it for the tax exemption?"

This way of concrete thinking may work on a functional level in the physical world but breaks down in the spiritual realm. We know that many things look identical in the physical world but look very different in the spiritual world. Intent is one of those things. Secret feelings are one of those things. Incomplete repentance is one of those things. I have written before about imperfection and I'm still fully in support of "fake it till you make it" as an acceptable strategy. Once again, however, there still remains this question of intent. Am I aware that even though I am acting on the outside to have forgiven this person that inside I burn with indignation? If so I completely agree that we continue to act how we think we should act, and pray that the internal feelings will follow. However, we should never accept "acting the right way" as the same thing as "doing the right thing." The former is an objective external process while the latter is a hidden internal process. 

"The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7

We must strive toward perfection and that perfection is not just what people see but the heart of hearts behind what is seen. If we are teaching then we must be quite certain that the center of our lesson should not be ourselves and our own ego. Unfortunately I am the first to admit that I'm not always sure. Am I teaching for the edification of the other person who can benefit from what I have to say or am I teaching for my own edification and glorification to be seen as a respected educator? While we must be careful that we do not allow the devil to use this as a way to discourage us from teaching we should be self critical enough to ask this question and ask it often. I'm convinced that the people hearing the lesson are affected in some way by the internal struggle of the speaker against himself. 

"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." - Ephesians 6:12

Even if the person hearing what you have to say does not consciously question your motives I do believe that there is an unseen spiritual warfare that is happening during the exchange of information. I hope you pray for me as you read this that as I write this and other contemplations I am doing so with pure intentions. There is a fear I have that I will stop writing because of the whisper in my ear "who do you think you are to write anything?" There is an equal and more worrisome fear that I will keep writing and eventually allow myself rather than Christ or my reader to be the center of my writing. May God protect you and I in our desire to spread His Good News.