JUDO

I really kind of envy kindergarten & lower elementary teachers because they get to use show & tell. That’s a very natural way of engaging students in the learning process. It’s especially effective because young children don’t even realize they are being taught. Since it employs their senses & motor skills, they naturally learn.

Where did show & tell come from? Although someone way back who was formulating theories about effective educational techniques may be credited with discovering it, that’s not where it originated. I believe God just let him or her in on a little secret.

I've never studied martial arts, but I understand a big part of the practical technique revolves around the idea that you use your opponent’s strengths against him. One of the ways is to exploit his physical strength & weight to your own advantage.

What does martial arts have to do with educational theory? Let me tell you:

“It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.” 

This is the Apostle Paul’s testimony in I Timothy 1:15-16.

You’re probably familiar with Paul’s history. As Saul, a Jewish religious leader, he was the guy who started out holding the garments of those who stoned to the first martyr for Christ, Stephen. He then graduated to being the guy who dragged Christians out of their homes or hiding places so that he could have them taken to stand trial. Many were stripped of their belongings & some were imprisoned or executed. Saul may have never committed adultery or robbery, but he was responsible for unimaginable suffering among his countrymen.

When Saul was brought to Christ his experience showed what kind of a transformation the grace of God can accomplish in a terrible person’s life. It wasn’t just so he could know, but so that the people around him could see it for themselves.

That’s God’s show & tell.

The darker his history, the greater claim the wrath of God had on him. But God’s grace & mercy were more than sufficient. The greater the debt, the greater the demonstration of God’s transforming work.

That’s God’s judo.

Don’t let the darkness in your past keep you from being a tangible demonstration to those around you of what the Living God can do. God does judo, so that He can have a show & tell – you.You're the show & tell that lets people know that God forgives & transforms lives, no matter how dark & corrupted.