Jesus: A Teacher With Lasting Impact by Christina

Jesus: A Teacher With Lasting Impact by Christina - June 2021 Scholarship Essay

Jesus is the most influential teacher I’ve ever had because his teachings are timeless and apply to all areas of life. For some, He’s controversial. Non-Christians will question whether He’s the Messiah and if salvation is truly through Him alone. But most will agree He is a wise teacher.

He provides guidance in how we work, telling us to do our work as if it’s for God, not just for other people. He points us away from a focus on gathering wealth, reminding us that our lives are more than an abundance of possessions. He taught us to look out for widows and orphans and to love others, yes, even our enemies.

What Jesus teaches us is in opposition to what the world teaches. Look out for yourself. Acquire more. Work until you drop. Achieve. Buy. Keep. Own. Dominate. Succeed. But operating that way only left me exhausted. Rat race. Hamster wheel. Ladder against the wrong wall. However you want to describe it, trying to do more never fulfilled me. It only wore me out and left me frustrated.

I reminded myself of what Jesus teaches: love, service, humility, patience, kindness, goodness, and mercy. Shifting towards that way of thinking leads to a sense of contentment and fulfillment that doesn’t shift with circumstances and isn’t dependent on the above things. How can anyone disagree with that?