This is the final post of a four-part series excerpted from Dr. Leah Zuidema’s article on how God’s good design of limits can help orient our teaching to promote flourishing within our callings and among those we serve. The full article was originally published in Integration, an online journal of faith and learning, on September 5, 2025.
Posts one and two of this series outlined God’s good design of limits. Post three made the case that good planning can help educators teach within a theology of limits and calling. This final post calls educators to align their teaching posture with the will of God.
Be Transformed by the Renewing of Your Mind
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2, NIV).
Having examined five key strategies for planning and structuring our teaching in ways that honor both our limitations and our vocational calling, we now turn to an equally essential dimension: the posture with which we carry out this work. These next themes are less about what we do and more about how we show up. They are habits of mind and heart—ways of being that reflect a teacher who is not only willing, but truly ready. As Romans 12:2 reminds us, transformation comes through the renewing of our minds. These practices will help renew your teaching in ways that allow you to test and follow God’s will—his good, pleasing, and perfect will.
Posture
Know and be known. To know is to love, so know God, know his world, and know your students. Students flourish when they are seen and loved. Show them your Christian love and care by learning their names. Speak with them before and after class, even if it feels awkward at first—learn from someone who is good at it. Design assignments that invite them to bring their interests and stories to the table. Be kind to your students and colleagues.
Let yourself be known, too, so that your students have a chance to show their Christian love for you as well. Don’t try to be someone else. Teach out of your own gifts and talents, because that is who God made you to be, and that is how you will be most effective—and most rested and joyful. Create rhythms in your own life that support knowing and being known: quiet time with the Lord, shared meals with students, moments of stillness and community.
Be curious and filled with wonder. Wonder is at the heart of learning. Let it be at the heart of your teaching, too. The Psalms are filled with wonder and can remind and teach us how to be in awe of God, his creation, and his redeeming work in the world.
The Task and Educational Framework of Dordt University calls on faculty and staff to help students to “cultivate Christian imagination”—that is, to respond faithfully and creatively to the world’s needs, grounded in the story of Scripture and filled with hope for renewal.[4] Foster that kind of Christian imagination in your students and yourself. It is part of how we answer the call to love God with our minds.
Say “I’m sorry.” Sometimes we make mistakes, or fall short, or even willfully do wrong. We wound others through our sinful nature. Restoration begins with confession: “I’m sorry. I was wrong. I see the harm, and I want to make it right. Here’s what I’ll do differently. What am I missing? Will you forgive me?”
This kind of honesty is not weakness—it’s strength. It models the humility and grace we hope to cultivate in our students. It’s also a way of protecting rest for others. When we acknowledge harm and seek restoration, we help to restore trust, reduce anxiety, and make room again for learning and rest to flourish—for our students and for ourselves.
Make the first day matter. And the last day, too. First impressions matter: some say we form them within thirty seconds, and research shows that student ratings after just ten minutes of class often align closely with their evaluations at the end of the semester.
So think about that first day—and those first minutes—from the students’ perspective. They want to be engaged, but they also want to be confident—confident that the course will matter, that they will be able to succeed, that you will see their strengths and potential, that you will notice their struggles and help them grow. They want to know that they’ll be encouraged—not embarrassed or dismissed.
Love your students from the first day to the last and pray for them and for yourself. Show students that you care by being a steward of time—by making the first and last moments count. And in doing so, remember that you’re not called to fill every moment, but to faithfully mark the time you’ve been given—trusting that God works in both our presence and our limits.
Know what matters most and let it free and constrain you. On the one hand, this principle means keeping the big picture goals in mind. To teach with this posture, name and continually remember just a few things where you can say with conviction, “We will have failed if students don’t learn this.” Let those essential outcomes guide your decisions in the moment during class and as the semester unfolds in ways that you could not have imagined. Stay the course to do what matters most.
But then also let those goals free you. If you know where you’re going, and remember the essential stopping points along the way, you can enjoy the journey. You can take detours, follow student curiosity, or pause for a dilemma or delight that arises unexpectedly. You don’t have to control every moment. You can be responsive—creative, even—without losing your way.
At the same time, let those goals constrain you. Don’t try to do everything. Stay anchored. Prioritize. If you try to cover it all, you’ll lose both depth and energy.
When you teach with clarity of purpose and with joy, even hard work can feel restful. You find yourself in a state of flow—creative, energized, and sustained by the sense that you are doing the work you were called to do.
These principles of planning and posture should return our focus to the heart of it all:
Be Christ-centered. Above all else, center your teaching on Christ.
Let your course reflect the big story that Scripture reveals about our Lord and Savior: creation, fall, redemption, and renewal. Don’t just talk about ideas. Point to Jesus! In the way you teach, in the culture you create, in the love you extend, let students glimpse the One we serve, the One who saves us, the One who is making all things new.
Psalm 90 reminds us that the work we do not our own. We labor within our limits, but we do so under the favor and power of the Lord. So as you return to your classrooms, consider these verses as encouragement and a frequent prayer:
“Let your work be manifest to your servants
and your glorious power to their children.
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us
and prosper for us the work of our hands—
O prosper the work of our hands!”
Psalm 90:16-17, NRSV
References:
[1] Kevin DeYoung, Crazy Busy: A (Mercifully) Short Book about a (Really) Big Problem (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2013), 34-35.
[2] Ibid., 33-42.
[3] From Kelly M. Kapic, address to the Dordt University Faculty Workshop (August 22, 2022). See also Kelly M. Kapic, You’re Only Human: How Your Limits Reflect God’s Design and Why That’s Good News (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2022).
[4] “The Task and Education Framework of Dordt University,” https://www.dordt.edu/about-dordt/consumer-information/the-task-and-educational-framework-of-dordt-university.
