“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Luke 8:8b

Jesus has been called the Master Teacher, and we see an example of His teaching ability in the parable of the sower recorded by Luke. Much of what Jesus had to say in this parable encouraged me as I taught for twenty-three years in a public school, and many more years of teaching in our local church. Teaching is often discouraging because we don’t always see immediate results from our labor.

Discouragement is a major threat to all of us. Who among us hasn’t had failures? As a teacher I’ve often looked back and wondered if I should have taken a different approach to a problem. Teachers in the public school are told that unless the pupil learn, there hasn’t been any teaching, an assumption that sometimes made me feel like a failure. Jesus taught, however, that learning is a two-way street. Students must have a receptive mind for learning to occur.

Jesus mentioned four kinds of soil where the seed of the Word might have landed. Unyielding ground where the seed couldn’t take root. In shallow soil, it would sprout and soon wither and die because of lack of moisture. Palestine’s soil was also full of thistles and brambles. If the seed fell among those aggressive plants, the young plant would soon be crowded out. Only seed nurtured in good soil produced a noteworthy crop, and this principle also applies to teaching.

I often had students in public schools whose family background prevented their reception of my teaching. One mother sent an excuse saying that her son had been absent from school the previous day to stay home with his father who was leaving the next day to spend twenty years in prison. I remember another student, whose father was molesting the boy’s younger sisters, and the mother wouldn’t interfere. In situations like these, learning can seldom take place because the students’ family problems crowded out the seed I was sowing.

Christians have the opportunity to sow the seed of the Good News wherever we are. In reality, we are all teachers by example whether or not we’ve ever set foot in a classroom. We are responsible for teaching the Word, not for the response. But how wonderful to praise God when we’ve planted the seed and it has produced an abundant crop in the lives of those who listened!

Irene Brand began writing inspirational novels in 1984. Forty-five books and over 2 million copies in print, Irene still holds to her grass roots, of faith, family and friends.

Irene and her husband live in rural West Virginia. Her newest book,
Love Finds You in Valentine, Nebraska is available in bookstores now.