v 19 So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Teaching and Learning go on through a variety of methods. Most of us learnt
to drive a car by sitting in the driving seat and having a go under the watchful eye of an instructor. Just reading a driving manual and the Highway Code would never have got us through a driving test! You perhaps learned some of your gardening skills from Monty Don, or your cooking from Mary Berry – you watched and then had a go for yourself.
Much of a person’s learning about life comes from watching someone else. A child watches a parent and soon learns to copy; I had many a parent sit in my office with a child, only for me to note their similarities of expression and language – even in the way they sat. It is called ‘learned behaviour’. In fact, sometimes we do not even realise that we are setting an example through which children learn. I winced listening to a parent in my office berating a child for swearing at a teacher – and doing so in the most abusive bout of swearing imaginable!
What is easily imaginable in the parent/child relationship is also true in the boss/worker, team leader/team member, and even Church Leader/Church Member relationship. Much teaching and learning goes on at this level and we may be hardly conscious of it happening.
Every time we either ignore or positively keep God’s commandments we set an example as a teacher – that is the level at which we are all teachers.
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