I Don't Like My Teacher

When my little cousin Vicki returned from her first day at a new school, she said, "I don't like my new teacher!" She was very upset and crying. Her mother told her she would call the school and see if she could be assigned to another class. Vicki did not want to do that. She said, "Just let me cry around for a little."

I made a bet with her, while she was still crying, that she would come to like her new teacher. A few weeks later Vicki told me, "I guess I owe you an ice cream cone. I do like her."

I think of doctrines of the Bible, even whole books, that were objectionable to me upon first hearing or reading. Luther disliked James. Now it is understandable that everyone has favorite books of the Bible, even doctrines that resonate with them. But I am concerned that some people dismiss a doctrine completely. They find it shocking or even offensive and avoid it.

I think of election or predestination as examples. To me, they are very plainly laid out in the Word. But at one time I was offended by them and only spoke of them in anger. I had so much to learn! I needed to be offended and confronted.

A key to my attitude was my emotion. Why could a certain subject not even be talked about? Why the anger? I learned gradually that it was the flesh trying to avoid losing a favorite toy. As my country relatives would say, I was fighting to hold onto my "play pretties".

A defense I often hear is, "It won't make heaven any prettier," or "I don't worry about things like that." Such dismissals are merely opening signals to me. The bell has just rung for the beginning of round one.

As I grow older I am learning about avoidance. After all, I did it myself. Some people just can't handle certain subjects. I leave them alone. Others need a doctrine, but have objections to it. If it is not important, then why did God include it in His Word?

I was teaching prophecy in a church where a man confessed he did not like the subject. He said he could not bear to think of his young child undergoing such things as are often mentioned in prophecy. I told him that together, the prophecies are good news. You need to read them all, not just the warnings, but the coming blessings.

Think of your child playing with once dangerous animals in peace and safety. Imagine your child happy and beyond pain and death. That is in prophecy too.