Illustrations and Visual Aids
177
to the point. Make your illustrations self-evident. However great a
man’s knowledge, it is of no avail unless he is able to communicate it
to others.—
Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 253
.
Illustrations for Everyone—Teachers, remember that the Lord is
your strength. Strive to give the students ideas that will be to them
a savor of life unto life. Teach by illustrations. Ask God to give
you words to speak that all can understand.—
Counsels to Parents,
Teachers, and Students, 254
.
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Children in Understanding—The teacher should constantly aim
at simplicity and effectiveness. He should teach largely by illustration,
and even in dealing with older pupils should be careful to make every
explanation plain and clear. Many pupils well advanced in years are
but children in understanding.—
Education, 233
.
Comprehension by Children—In all that men have written,
where can be found anything that has such a hold upon the heart,
anything so well adapted to awaken the interest of the little ones, as
the stories of the Bible? In these simple stories may be made plain the
great principles of the law of God. Thus by illustrations best suited
to the child’s comprehension, parents and teachers may begin very
early to fulfill the Lord’s injunction concerning His precepts: “Thou
shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them
when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way,
and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”
Deuteronomy
6:7
.—
Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 181
.
Dignity of the Word—Too many illustrations do not have a cor-
rect influence; they belittle the sacred dignity that should ever be
maintained in the presentation of the Word of God to the people.—
Evangelism, 209
.
Starving Sheep—There are men who stand in the pulpits as shep-
herds, professing to feed the flock, while the sheep are starving for the
bread of life. There are long-drawn-out discourses, largely made up of
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the relation of anecdotes; but the hearts of the hearers are not touched.
The feelings of some may be moved, they may shed a few tears, but
their hearts are not broken. The Lord Jesus has been present when
they have been presenting that which was called sermons, but their
words were destitute of the dew and rain of heaven. They evidenced
that the anointed ones described by Zechariah (see
chapter 4
) had
not ministered to them that they might minister to others. When the