Building Faith

Hebrews 11:1-3 tells us we learn faith from our parents. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God so that things which are seen were not made of thing which do appear.”

Children, babies, are helpless and must rely on their parents for everything. If they are hungry, cold, hot, wet, dirty, they can do nothing but lay there and cry. Without help, they will die.

As adults, we fend for ourselves. We had to learn. As infants, our parents would take care of whatever need we had. Later, if we were hungry, there was food in the cabinet or refrigerator, water in the faucet, and clean clothes in our room. We learned to have faith, to believe our needs were going to be covered. As we grew, we learned that the lights would come on when we turned the switch, the TV/radio would come on. We learned faith. Not Christian faith, but earthly faith. Faith in the world.

Webster’s New World C Dictionary defines faith as “unquestioning belief that does not require proof”. The Oxford Learner’s Dictionary defines it as “trust that somebody/something will do what has been promised”. We learned to have faith in our things, that they will work. Faith in our parents that they will provide. Faith that our needs/wants will be covered.

Today’s world is different. Today we have overwhelming poverty. *According to Alabama Possible’s 2020 Barriers to Prosperity Data Sheet, Alabama is the 5th poorest state. 16.8% living below the poverty threshold. The children in these homes live without these basic assurances. There is no faith. With more poverty, we see more single-parent homes, parents working multiple jobs to make ends meet. Children are left to fend for themselves; with no supervision; electronic babysitters; increases in gang involvement; drug use; sexual activity at younger and younger ages. Children are growing up quicker and harder; without being taught the basic emotional/social lessons. They don’t see respect, so they don't know how to respect. With nothing to share, they don’t know how to. With little or no supervision, there are no boundaries. Basic social cues and relating to other people are foreign concepts.

We can't blame it all on poverty. We can see these same characteristics in students from middle and upper-class homes. Even if their needs are being met. Parents are younger and younger every day. Children having children. They don’t know how to be parents. They don’t know how to teach their children these lessons. Some children don’t learn to have faith because they don’t need to. They are given whatever they want before they even know they want or need it. They don’t need faith. This causes other issues, but the results are still pretty much the same. They don’t know how to respect or share. They don’t know boundaries, because none have ever been set. They don’t have faith.

When children, for whatever reason, don’t have faith, the job of teachers becomes twice as hard. Our children all have different life experiences before meeting them. It's our job as caregivers, teachers, to help them learn to get along, work together, and be successful. It’s our job to teach them to have faith. Faith that their needs will be met, physical, emotional, and social. It’s our job to teach them to be good students, good citizens. Learn how to interact with others appropriately, share, work together in group settings. Teach them limitations and boundaries. Teach them appropriate social skills. Teachers don’t just teach Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, they must teach life skills. Starting the first day of kindergarten and lasting until the last day of high school, teachers need to be the first line of defense for students. Teachers are there to defend them, build them up, protect them, and teach them, all the while they are fighting us. Teaching isn’t a job. It’s a calling. If you're not called to be a teacher, run as fast to any other career field. Don’t become a teacher to get off at 3:00 every day and have summers off, because you won’t. Become a teacher to build; build knowledge, build students up, build relationships, build futures -

build faith.