Matthew 22:15-22, 26:6-13
One of the things I love about Jesus is that he knows me. It’s a scary thing – knowing that the creator of the universe, the sovereign God, the time-transcending being who sees all with perfect clarity and understanding, KNOWS my thoughts, my motives, my actions, my words, my weaknesses – but it’s also comforting. It’s back to that whole intimacy thing. I want to be known. What I struggle with is the mindset that I have of, “If no one else knows me, at least Jesus does!” when I SHOULD have the mindset of, “It doesn’t matter if anyone else knows me, Jesus does!”
I’m convinced that most people probably feel the way I feel, even if they should be feeling the way I should feel.
I see this in my students a lot. Today one of my students had a rough day and wasn’t doing much to contribute toward his learning. He was also distracting the other students – and me – and I had to get after him about “good attention” versus “bad attention” (thank you, Uncle Scott for that lecture on repeat in elementary school!). I didn’t come down hard enough on him, and finally one of my other students snapped, and he blew up in response, and I had to kick him out, and it was a mess. But after he left, I had a good talk with the other students about learning styles and personality types, etc.
Since I’m a big fan of the Myers-Briggs/Jungian Typology, I was outlining the basic premises of how the four spectrums work. I explained that some people prefer to be around people, and thus they might learn better in a group setting where they can talk and joke while they learn. Others need more quiet and solitude to process information and make connections, and they don’t want to be in groups to learn.
I try to always provide examples for my students whenever I discuss these abstract theories, because I know that I grasp things better when I make tangible connections. Since this crew is used to each other, I try to use them as examples for themselves. One of my skater boys is an extrovert, while one of my new stay-at-home-mom’s is definitely an introvert. One of my ladies likes to work with crafty things, such as beadwork and sewing, and another of my boys was a great visionary and thinker.
I’ve done some analysis of my students before and asked them how close to the mark they felt I got, and the response has been absolutely overwhelmingly in favor of me doing these types of exercises. Today while I was talking about Blake, my skater boy, he was just beaming as I used him as an example. Even if my analysis isn’t completely accurate, my students still seem to love the idea that I care about them enough to TRY to know them.
I think maybe this is more significant than I think it is. People really feel loved and valued when you notice them, you notice their preferences or tendencies or quirks or strengths, and when you can address those with them specifically. I have a feeling Jesus was kind of detail oriented like that. I need to work on it more!
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