Feeling Like a Fraud?

Ever feel like a fraud?

A few years ago, I switched careers from nursing to teaching medicine to high school students.

Before I accepted my teaching position, I had various volunteer teaching experiences. I had even homeschooled my own children. Yet, I didn’t see myself as a teacher.

The first week of class proved more challenging than I could ever imagine.  How to educate and entertain high school freshmen while engaging them over human body content? I wrote curriculum every night and prayed in preparation for the next day.

I starting pursuing a Master’s in Education degree, in part, so I wouldn’t feel I were masquerading as something I’m not. Maybe then, I would be a real teacher.

Maybe like me, there are times you’ve felt like a fraud, even in faith. It’s easy to reduce personal value down to a list of credentials, and feel I’m coming up short.

Christians know where to find books like Ezekiel and Hebrews, right?

Christians don’t fight with spouses, right?

Christians don’t do things like yell at their kids or speed on the road, right?

Wrong.

Christians are not Jesus. They aren’t perfect.

The label of Christian means “Christ-like”, as in, that is what His followers  aim towards. But as humans, we don’t succeed at it perfectly. Instead, we learn and we grow.

But from the day we accept Christ,He gives grace freely. He doesn’t look over a resume’ checking off a list of what we know and what we don’t, what we do and what we don’t. He doesn’t measure our actions after accepting Him to determine if we make it into heaven.

That first semester I stood in the classroom, I had little idea how to successfully teach in a high school. My bosses encouraged me to take it one day at a time. Each day I would try something new. Each day I would learn tools of the trade, slowly building my confidence that yes, I am a teacher.

With our Christian walk, we also need to take life one day at a time. Each day we learn something new. We learn tools of the trade. We can build confidence through our relationship with Christ.

Every teacher I know is constantly learning, constantly changing, constantly growing. Even seasoned teachers tell me that process won’t stop until retirement.

As people of faith, we also continue to learn, change, and grow. A process not completed until we reach heaven.

In the near future, I am slated to complete that Master’s degree. While it will be a great relief to finally finish, I no longer see it certifying me as a ‘real’ teacher. As my principal told me when I started, “You have a heart for kids, that’s all that matters. You can learn to teach.”

When we have a heart for Christ, that is truly all that matters.

We can learn the Bible.

We can learn how we should live.

But all that matters at the end of the day, is what captivates our hearts. Christ isn’t looking for accomplishments, credentials, or perfection.

He is looking for a heart searching after Him. He wants to lead us through this life, through our choices and decisions. He wants us to follow Him.

If we are following after Him, He will never call us out as a fraud.