4, not 2 (an argument for planning lessons early)

Been reading the short little book by Edmund Chan entitled "Mentorship Paradigms"

Chapter, or rather paradigm, 9 was about the 4 steps of mentoring. It was really interesting when he pointed out that most people subscribe to a 2 step method.

The 2 step method is
1. Discovering Truth
2. Passing it on

Which sounded eerily like what I do in Bible Study and Sunday School. My duty compels me to examine the text and I discover some truths and then I just pass it on.

Instead, the 4 step method would be to
1. Discover Truth
2. Apply Truth
3. Reap the benefits
4. Pass it on

Essentially you can think of it as spending the time to live out, the truth you have discovered, in your own life, witness its power and benefit from it before you pass it onto others.
Certainly this helps us to avoid the mistake of teaching what we ourselves are not practicing.
But more than that, it helps us to more profoundly understand the things we are teaching.

There was a quote "What I hear, I forget. What I see, I remember. What I do, I understand, When I understand, I change."
If we do not do, we do not understand. When we do and understand, we change and are in a better position to teach- we no longer impart a theory, we impart a way of living.

I think these 4 steps make a really compelling argument to start planning lessons early... If we do not begin early where will we find time to apply the truth and reap its benefits before passing it on?

I am certainly not yet teaching in the best way I can.