THE CUTTING EDGE OF TEACHING
Mark H. Heinemann
July 1, 1987
As I read the paper in my den, I heard a ruckus in the next room. One of my daughters, Kim, was yelling at her sister, Betsy. I sat listening for a moment, and then my annoyance peaked. I jumped up, stalked into the next room, clenched my fist, and yelled, "Stop screaming at your sister!" Silence. The two of them looked at me, and suddenly I realized what an absurd figure I was, yelling at Kim to stop yelling. "I'm sorry. I'm doing exactly what I'm telling you not to do, aren't I?" "That's all right, Dad." "So stop yelling, okay?" "Okay." I walked back into the den and sat down. I bent forward and closed my eyes, rubbing my forehead. That yelling of hers does kind of remind me of my own, I had to admit to myself. I began to think about the difference between speaking the truth, even speaking it well at appropriate times, and living the truth. A proverb attributed to John Locke says, "Ill patterns are sure to be followed more than good rules." Someone else said that a person who preaches well and lives poorly is like a man who builds a fire and then throws water on it. It grieves me to remember occasions when, in moments of weakness, my life threw water on the fire. Then, as I was reading 1 Timothy 4:11-16, I was reminded that ministry, like a pair of scissors, has two blades that must be hinged together, matching sides operating simultaneously. Paul urges Timothy to sharpen both cutting edges of his ministry: his exhortation and his example. First Paul says "Command and teach these things." I once had the false impression that if I preached well enough, individual and corporate spiritual growth must necessarily follow. But the verbal giving of truth is only half the scissors. The living of the truth-openly, visibly-is the other half, ...
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