The purpose of these devotions is for you as a leader to have some powerful thoughts from God’s Word to encourage your team members. Please feel free to adjust or adapt as you see fit.

Scripture

1 Timothy 4:16 (English Standard Version)

16Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.

Devotion

Paul gives young Timothy some incredible advice that applies to all those who desire to teach. He touches on two things that those who teach should pay close attention to:

1. Yourself

2. Your teaching

A teacher must first pay attention to her life as a disciple. If she does not, she will loose effectiveness as a teacher and her ability to portray herself as a role model. “Keeping a watch on yourself” can be aided by some diagnostic questions:

  • How is my prayer life? Am I seeking God for things that are beyond my daily circumstances? Am I praying for those under my teaching?
  • Do I study God’s Word regularly and allow myself to be transformed by it?
  • Can I translate my own life transformation (molding to be like Jesus) into what I teach each week?
  • How are my relationships? Is my heart in the right place, do Iview people as Jesus views them?
  • Am I actively repenting and open to the conviction of sin in my life?

After a teacher is satisfied that the direction of their life is pleasing to the Lord, they can begin to focus on the nature of their teaching. Keep these points in mind:

  • Teaching should be in depth and challenging.
  • Teaching should focus on the needs of the students rather than how the teacher “likes” to teach.
  • Doctrine should be double checked. Students should be challenged to go deeper than they already are.
  • Test every statement you make by the question: “What does the Bible say about that?”

The second part of this verse provides the result of a teacher paying close attention to her life and teaching. That is, she ensures salvation for herself and those under her teaching. The word “save” here is the same Greek word often used for “eternal salvation” (sozo), but this word does not always speak to the terms of living forever in heaven because of forgiveness. In fact, theological salvation is a secondary meaning to that word. “Save” can sometimes mean to deliver, heal, or rescue.

This provides some great insight on the role of a teacher. When a teacher pays attention to themselves as a devoted follower of Jesus and then considers what they actually teach of paramount importance, they offer rescue, healing, and spiritual safety for themselves and for those under their teaching.

A similar metaphor is the role of a taxi driver in New York City. They must pay close attention to what they are doing and be concerned with their passengers. Not paying attention in New York can cause some serious damage. The taxi driver, in a sense, holds their own and your life in their hands. Teachers hold a piece of theirs and their student’s lives in their hands. This provides some great challenge to us as teachers as we seek to be godly in our living and effective in our teaching.

Related posts:

  1. Fire Them Up–II Timothy 2:10
  2. Fire Them Up–Psalm 78:1-8
  3. Fire Them Up–II Corinthians 5:18-20