Taking it to the streets

We can learn something from the eastern, or rabbinic, form of teaching. The rabbis, who were masters of the text, God’s Word, led their students through life. The world is their classroom. And everything becomes a teachable moment. As the students “do life” with their rabbi, he teaches along the way.

Children naturally connect truth with observation. While driving yesterday, I remarked to the kids with me about the beautiful rainbow. One immediately piped up that “God gave us the rainbow to show He wouldn’t send another flood.” Bam! They get it!

And we can continue the conversation, with adults or kids. “Look at the rain. God provides us with rain.” "What does that tell us about God?" He leads us to great conversations and growth as we stay in His Word.

Or as you walk down the street...“See the ant?  What does God say about the ant?”  And then you’d learn or recite what God’s Word said about the ant.  “My, how industrious he is. We should work like the ant.“

You see in this rabbinic model (and remember that Jesus was a rabbi) that the text is immediately brought into life. Its application is understood as it’s taught. As Westerners, we’ve brought learning into a classroom to merely assimilate information. And then we struggle to apply it “out there.” There is a disconnect because it’s learned in an abstract setting.

Yes, we need to know the text, understand the text, bury it deep in our heart. This is my passion. But what would happen if we also began to learn the text together “out there?” If we were surrounded by folks, and became folks, who knew the text so well that it flavored our language. And then even our common activities became teachable moments and reminders of who God is.

These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.  Deuteronomy 6:4-10