No Greater Joy
“God is good.”
Psalm 73:1(NIV)
Our ten-week Proverbs Wise Woman’s Bucket List study of the book of Proverbs concluded yesterday with a quick look at our remaining categories: managing our resources; walking in wisdom; and knowing God. We finished our time together by studying 1 Samuel 25, a passage that I affectionately call “Portrait of a Fool,” and noted the differences between a foolish husband and a wise wife. Finally, we shared which wisdom bucket personally challenged us the most over the course of the last ten weeks.
One young woman, a newlywed named Kassie, arrived early to our class. In her hands, she carried a beautifully wrapped gift. “I just wanted to say ‘thank you.’ I remembered you said you would be going to the beach soon,” she said. I opened her gift and found a lovely sea-foam green candle appropriately named “Tiki Beach.” Kassie’s thank you card matched both the candle and gift bag. Her own sense of style, grace, and beauty was reflected in the manner in which she quietly presented her gift. I was truly touched by her gratitude and thoughtfulness, but I was absolutely nailed by the verse on her beautiful gift bag that read, “God is good.” (Psalm 73:1) Those words could not have been more appropriate for yesterday’s wrap up session.
Wise Woman’s Bucket List Top Takeaways, Board 1
Throughout the morning as women all over the room shared their top Proverbs series takeaways, “God is good,” echoed in my mind and heart. We storyboarded gold nuggets, those life truths that give us help or hope for our life and faith journeys. Each woman shared which bucket list category presents the greatest challenge to her in this current life season. The goodness of God was evident in the lives and faces of all of the very different women sitting in this room studying God’s Word together. Their quick responses, insights, and readiness to share were all evidences that they had listened and studied well.
More Wise Woman’s Bucket List Top Takeaways, Board 2
As we closed, I challenged each woman to teach what she had been taught. “By God’s grace, I’ve given you the tools you need, not only to study the book of Proverbs for yourself, but to teach someone else how to study it.”
Two women approached me afterwards and asked me how I first began teaching women’s Bible studies. I laughed and said, “Well for one thing, I’ve been teaching for over forty years. I was 25 years old, married and a new mom with a baby who was just a few weeks old. We had moved to a new city for my husband’s job and become members in a Briarwood new church plant. Our church did not have a women’s ministry, but the women wanted to begin one. We found two women at Briarwood (now my home church in Birmingham) who would teach us a discipleship lesson each week. One Briarwood woman, Pat, wrote our curriculum and another Briarwood woman, Annette, taught the weekly lesson. We met in Annette’s home for six weeks. It was Discipleship 101 boot camp! We would study Pat’s lesson together and afterwards Annette would feed us a salad lunch in her lovely dining room. Annette would then send us back to our homes in Sylacauga with these instructions: “Teach what you’ve been taught and when you’ve done that, come back for another lesson. And if you don’t teach this one, don’t come back!”
More takeaways!
Annette’s words challenged each of us to go home and teach somebody something. Annette, now well into her eighties, is still faithfully teaching other women. I am still following her lead. Annette knew then what I was soon to learn: teaching reinforces what you already know. And once I began teaching, I understood WHY Annette teaches, as I quickly experienced not just the joy of teaching, but also:
the joy of studying
the joy of discovery
the joy of learning
the joy of helping others learn
the joy of community
the joy of prayer
the joy of fellowship
the joy of knowing God
The Great Commission is also a Great Commandment. Jesus, just before His ascension into heaven, instructs his disciples to “Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20) We are never to make just converts; we are commanded to teach and make disciples. But we never teach alone. The last part of the Great Commission is also actually Jesus’ Great Promise: “Lo, I am with you always.” (Matthew 28:20)
As I left my classroom yesterday, I recalled the Apostle John’s words written near the end of his life, “I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in truth.” (3 John4) No greater joy!
It’s not enough to know God’s truth; we must obey it and teach it.
Know, grow, and show for God’s glory and our joy!