Like a Grace-filled Teacher
By Jessica Brodie
“God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you have shown Him as you have helped His people and continue to help them.” Hebrews 6:10
I’d always been a top student, but that winter I struggled. Instead of all As, I found myself getting a B, then a few Cs, finally a D. My “good girl” identity was melting.
My teacher knew I was having a tough time at home, and she gently steered me back on-course. Soon I was thriving again, but I never forgot her kindness. I stayed on track through high school, college, and graduate school, always trying to honor her grace by helping others floundering around me.
In Hebrews six, we learn our goal is spiritual maturity, moving beyond rituals and basics. But Hebrews 6:10 reassures us, “God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you have shown Him as you have helped His people and continue to help them,” noting that He will reward our best efforts at obedience.
That picture of God reminds me of my teacher.
As Christians, we know salvation doesn’t depend on works but on our belief that Jesus is our savior. Still, Jesus commanded we love one another (Matthew 22:39), and His followers echo the Lord’s word in their directives to the early church (1 John 4:7-21 and James 2). By loving each other, we love God. We exalt Him with the way we treat people.
My teacher believed in me and remembered the good work I’d done. Her confidence in me served as motivation when I desperately needed it, guiding me to success that has lasted a lifetime—and inspiring me to help others similarly.
But God knows us far better than my teacher knew me. He knows our essence, knows all the good we’ve done for His kingdom.
And He wants us to stay on that path—for our sake, for the deliverance of those we lead to Christ, and for His glory.
Jessica Brodieis an award-winning journalist and a member of the Wholly Loved Ministryteam. She’s also an author who currently serves as the editor of the South Carolina United Methodist Advocate, the oldest newspaper in Methodism. She is the author of More Like Jesus: A Devotional Journey(2018) and editor of Stories of Racial Awakening: Narratives on Changed Hearts and Lives of South Carolina United Methodists(2018), both from her newspaper’s Advocate Press. She also writes contemporary women’s fiction, represented by Bob Hostetler of The Steve Laube Agency. Her novel The Memory Gardenwon the American Christian Fiction Writers’ 2018 Genesis Contest. She has a faith blog at JessicaBrodie.com.
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Originally published Thursday, 18 May 2023.
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