Today is National Substitute Teacher Day. In the more modern PC era, it’s National Substitute Educator’s Day, capping off a weeklong celebration of American educators and administration. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are 376,340 elementary and secondary education subs1 to teach in the nation’s 97,568 public schools2 and 32,461 private schools3. There are 3.21 million teachers in these schools with another 483,000 teachers in private schools.4
This must be a tough job! Many are doing it as a means to get their foot in the door and some experience in hopes of becoming a full-time teacher in a particular district. Others are doing it to provide supplemental income to their families. And some are doing it because they simply love kids. Whatever the reason, the substitute teacher has it rough!
They start out with immediate handicaps. They are handed a teacher’s lesson plan on a subject for which they are wholly unprepared. They are given a bunch of students that are strangers with intimidating faces and a penchant for messing with the sub, knowing they can get away with a lot more than if the actual teacher was there. The students might change seats or change names. If the sub shows the least bit of nervousness or fear, the kids can smell it and will exploit it for all it’s worth!
I say all of this because I am a recovering child! I was one of those kids who loved having a sub. High school subs were the best. Most were content to give you a “personal study” day which meant we were going to do anything except study. The sub was okay with our choices provided we kept it quiet. And, yes, we capitalized on their gullibility!
Substitutes are fine if they are teachers or those filling in other positions in the school. Substitutes are fine if you are swapping out one ingredient for another in a recipe. You can even substitute players on a team to make a situation more advantageous. But there are some things where a substitute will never work.
We cannot substitute talking with God in prayer with talking to our best friend or trusted
counselor. Psalms 145:18 says, “The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.” Many verses of Scripture summon us to the discipline of prayer and invite us to take all of our cares and burdens to the Throne Room of God. Why would we go elsewhere when God knows what’s best for us and can provide everything we need?
We cannot substitute reading our Bible with reading a magazine from a mission board, a devotional booklet, or a book written by a Christian author. God describes His Word in Hebrews 4:12. “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” In God’s Word, we find knowledge, wisdom, guidance, direction, correction, and answers to our questions in life. God’s Word never fails because it’s Author is God.
We cannot substitute faithful church attendance with watching a television church or on our computer. COVID! Ugh! We had never travelled down this road before, and we allowed the government to dictate everything we did. And churches have never been the same. Some people got comfortable attending church via livestreaming or just waiting till it was convenient. They could watch an hour-long service in five-minute increments while in their jammies if they chose and declare that they had gone to church. Really?!?!? Hebrews 10:25 says, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”
Here’s a concept that we’ve all experienced. We purchased something that had a lot of parts and required us to assemble it. All the parts had to be in the box in order for us to assemble it. How frustrated were we when we got midway through the project only to find out that pieces were missing? Well, welcome to church!
Finally, and most importantly, we cannot substitute salvation by grace through faith with a salvation that gives it your best effort. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: (9) Not of works, lest any man should boast.” There is no substitute for the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. There is no substitute for His blood. There is no substitute for His grace, mercy, and forgiveness.
We celebrate our substitute teachers today or those who substitute in other positions throughout the school system. But we also remind ourselves that making the wrong spiritual substitutions can be devastating.
“But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” (Galatians 1:8)
1https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes253031.htm#(1)
2https://research.com/universities-colleges/number-of-public-schools-in-the-us
3https://research.com/education/american-school-statistics
4https://www.statista.com/statistics/185012/number-of-teachers-in-elementary-and-secondary-schools-since-1955
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