Passion Without Burden

A Passion to Teach Without a Burden to Study Is a Desire to Perform

The Bible says in Ezra 7:10 "For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel."

There is a difference between those who teach because they are burdened by truth and those who teach because they are enamored by the platform. One is driven by conviction, the other by performance.

Ezra was not just a teacher; he was a student first. He set his heart—not just his mind, not just his schedule, but his very heart—to study God's law. He didn't rush to teach before he had immersed himself in the Word, lived it, and allowed it to shape him. His teaching was not a performance but an overflow of personal transformation.

But today, how many rush to teach before they have learned? How many crave the microphone but not the meditation? How many seek an audience but not the altar?

Jesus rebuked the Pharisees because they taught without transformation (Matthew 23:3). They could recite the law but failed to live it. They loved to be called “Rabbi” but were not burdened by the weight of truth.

Teaching is not a stage; it is stewardship. It is a responsibility that demands reverence. If we are not first students, we have no business being teachers. If we do not carry the weight of study, we should not bear the title of teacher.

Before you teach, ask yourself:

• Have I truly studied this, or am I just repeating what I’ve heard?
• Has this word transformed me, or am I only trying to impress others?
• Do I desire to glorify God, or do I crave recognition?

Ezra studied, then he obeyed, and only then did he teach. That is the order. Let us not be teachers who love the sound of our own voices but lack the burden of truth. Let us be students first, transformed first, obedient first—so that when we do teach, it is not a performance, but a pouring out of what God has first done in us.

Teach from the overflow, not from an empty well.