"And He spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch? The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master" (Luke 6:39-40).

Certainly a blind person cannot guide another blind person and keep him from falling into a pit. The Lord Jesus took our knowledge of this truth to illustrate its important application to our education. Because a disciple is not above his teacher, the teacher exerts a profound influence and example on the disciple which affects his or her life. Each of us can remember an example of a teacher who, because of a mature and competent command of the subject or character trait being taught, inspired and instructed us most effectively, with a life-changing result. Parents should have this positive effect on children; school teachers should likewise influence students for the better; pastors should positively change their congregations.

Another truth central to teaching is the fact that a teacher cannot lead where he or she has not been. For those involved in directing the spiritual growth of others, it is necessary that they have already explored the dimension they are teaching. After all, "the blind cannot lead the blind."

Perhaps the most important application of the above challenge is to center our lives in Christ and accept and be trained by His example: "He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked" (I John 2:6). Also, since Jesus was the master teacher, we can believe that He trained His apostles to be like Him. We need to be trained by the words of Jesus and His apostles: "But we all, with open |or 'unveiled'| face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (II Corinthians 3:18). SAA