When a Teacher Stand Up for a Student

You'd think that in a Christian school teachers shouldn't have to deal with bullying. Well, we do. Christians may be filled with the Holy Spirit, but we are still sinners by nature. The past several weeks some of my students have been picking on each other, mainly one boy in particular. Today it just went to far, actually to the point of bullying. Don't worry, no one was beat up or hurt, just picked on too much. I was going to address the issue with the individuals involved, but I decided to talk to the entire class about the issue. I took the class to 1 John 4:7-8, 11, 18, 22, etc. We talked about the love of God that should be in us if we claim to be Christians. The verses pointed out, too, that our love for other believers should be especially strong. How dare we say "I love God" then turn around pick on another believer alongside whom we are too be sharing the Gospel message?! I can only pray that the Word of God touched the hearts of those students involved, and the rest of the class as well. I don't like to confront even youngsters, but I had to stand up against sin and stand up for right. Now my students know that I will not, and cannot, tolerate bullying of any degree. And it's not just because I personally don't appreciate it, but because it goes against the Word of God! That is what I wanted my students to see today. I explained why we were having the discussion, pointed them to the passage, then let the living Word of God do the talking. His Words are a thousand times more powerful than mine. His Words can pierce even to the dividing of soul and spirit. Only God's Word can change my students' lives so that's what I showed them.