Theology Worked Out

I've been reading through Following Jesus by NT Wright. I am totally enjoying it, thoroughly convicted, and absolutely quickened in the core of my being. I came across this passage today which I love theologically but need so much help to work out practically.

"The victory of Jesus over the evil in the world is not silmply a fait accompi which could be disproved by the continuance of evil to this day. It is a victory waiting to be implemented through his followers.
....Precisely because God's power is not manipulative, does not crush, or squash human beings, but rather ennobles and fulfills them, God now longs that we, his children, should take our own part in implementing his victory, the victory of the power of love over the love of power, throughout his creation. Those who commit themselves to following the ascended Lord Jesus are thereby signing on for this task."

I love the idea that God's power is not manipulative and does not crush or squash human beings, but what about junior high school students who won't behave in a classroom. It is easy and desireable to squash and crush them (before they squash and crush me first). But this is not the way of Jesus - he ennobles and fulfills them. And this is where ideas and theology must be worked out for me. It is not the way I see around me, but it is the way of my Lord Jesus. I committed to following him - and that is not some nebulous idea of him or his cause - but to his way. And that way is the way in which I must walk too.

Lord Jesus, I want to follow your way, your practices, your living out in reality. I want to demonstrate the power of love, but I'm afraid I more often grab for the love of power. Be part of my classroom discipline. Teach me to ennoble and fulfill, not squash or crush. (Teach me to not even want to squash or crush). Help these abstract ideas and wonderful thoughts about you find an embodied fulfillment in my everyday - working, sleeping, eating, living, playing - life.