During this time of the year, everyone is thinking about Christmas. For teachers, it is an opportunity to have a significant break in the day-to-day routine of teaching. It is unfortunate that each year there is more and more secularization of Christmas to a point where culture in Western society and around the world tends to forget the real meaning of Christmas and why Jesus came.
Across the nation in public schools, Christ has been taken out of Christmas. “The world’s preparation for Christmas shuts Him out. Jesus, our Lord -- the long-awaited Messiah, simply does not fit today's vision of pluralism. That's why signs and symbols of the celebration bearing His name have been censored from schools and public places from coast to coast.” Thank God for Christian schools that can teach students the real meaning of Christmas.
John 3:16 offers the reason why God sent Jesus to this earth. Without the Christ in Christmas, the Christmas break becomes like any other break. Do everything in your power this Christmas to ensure that Jesus is the center of your Christmas, at your home, in your school and classroom.
His Assignment
Beyond the purpose of bringing salvation to humanity, the assignment of Jesus is outlined in Luke 4:18. Jesus said that He had come to 1) proclaim the Gospel to the poor, 2) heal the brokenhearted, 3) set the captive free, 4) proclaim deliverance, 5) recovery of sight to the blind, and 6) set at liberty those that are bruised.
During this Christmas season, your students need to know that it was God that sent Jesus to earth. Go beyond this knowledge and consider having your students reflect on the questions, “Why is it that God sent you to this Christian school? Why did you come?” Use this opportunity to guide students into a discussion of their lives being guided and directed by God and His concern about their future. What they will receive from your school and even your classroom will be important, not just for this year, but in the years that follow.
Signs and Wonders
The coming of Jesus was a sign and a wonder. Moreover, His works were signs and wonders. Healing and deliverance were part of these signs. Jesus said in John 10:37-38, “If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though you believe not me, believe the works; that you may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in Him.”
Have you ever asked yourself the question, “What works am I doing that would cause my students and their families to believe that God sent me to this school?”
You are a Channel
God expects Christian schools to be a place of signs and wonders that flow through staff that is chosen by God to become the channel through which signs and wonders would be performed.
He has sent students to your school who need to have the Gospel of the good news spoken to them. In your Bible classes take time for students to express their thoughts on Christmas, have all of them confess, as a class, Christ as Lord and Savior. There are those students that need to have their broken hearts healed and family turmoil, abuse, and depression removed.
You are God’s messenger to set captives free-students who have been taken captive by the spirit of this world. You are in your school to proclaim deliverance, the recovering of sight to blinded eyes; not just physically, but those who cannot see the goodness of God or His plan for their lives. He wants to use you to set at liberty those that are bruised.
Students and parents will believe that God is real when they see the miracle-working power in academics, behavior, sports, and every avenue of ministry.
How is this going to be carried out? It will not be done by man’s mind but by the power of God, the miracle-working power of the Word of God, the Name of Jesus, through the blood of Jesus and the Holy Spirit – through you. This is your reason for coming to your school.
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