Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Acts 2:21
As a student, educator, and later a parent, I always felt anxious when final grade reports were given out. Each role presented challenges dealing with what was to come next.
As student, I felt that I deserved higher grades compared to the amount of work I had put into my studies. As a teacher, I often worried about whether a student’s grade was fair and indicative of the work and effort invested by the student. As a parent, I felt restless as I waited for my children to bring home their grade reports.
To arrive at fair grade reports, teachers use different assessment techniques and procedures to build and evaluate student performance and competence and help the teachers determine whether a student should be eligible for promotion to higher classes. In God’s eternal school, in His refining of the human character, our merciful Lord uses whatever possible means to help us come to a deeper understanding of ourselves, even as He provides all necessary for our salvation.
Every student needs to be exposed to a variety of assessment techniques to help them utilize their strengths and progress through increasingly complex lessons. While the student’s responsibility is to work hard and to trust the teacher to provide quality learning experiences, teachers are never happy when any of their students does not make it to the next level. They will always feel that they could have done more to see the student make more progress.
Similarly, when we choose to follow God’s teaching, He eagerly accompanies each one of us personally, step by step, in our daily lives. We read in Isaiah 45:22, “Let all the world look to me for salvation! For I am God; there is no other.”
Several educational systems around the world forbid schools from failing students when they are still in the primary level classes. God’s intention for us human beings is that we all pass, because he has completed the greater part of the homework by His sacrifice on the cross.
Salvation is a free gift for all, from the master Teacher who values each student equally, and sacrificed lavishly to pass the ultimate test each student could never earn alone.
Note: Article written and posted in English
