James does not mean to discourage “brothers and sisters” to
become teachers, nor does he expect them to be perfect, he just wants them to
be aware that teachers (and preachers) are held to a higher standard by virtue
of the task they have taken on. I’ve had some great teachers in my life but one
of my favorites was Miss Kruse. She was my fifth grade teacher at Grace
Lutheran School in River Forest, Illinois and years later I had the great gift of
being her student teacher. She was a remarkable educator, well ahead of her
time, but more importantly she embodied this text. I imagine there were days she
found it difficult to be gracious and kind but as far as I could tell her way
of being was her way of saying. That is, you cannot simply decide to be more
disciplined in your speech while harboring anger and resentment in your heart.
In the same way springs of water draw from what is down deep and not from what
is on the surface. So if Miss Kruse is the bar for who should presume to teach most
of us should look for some other work. However, since Christ is the well she
drew from we can all tap into the same source and be as gracious as she was (and
still is) although I imagine very few will be as remarkable.
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