Total Teachability
"Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, and conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity." 1 Timothy 4:12
Dr. J. Rufus Fears says if we feel good about history, we have probably learned the wrong lesson. There might be a rough biblical equivalent. If we feel too good about ourselves, we have certainly learned the less challenging lesson.
I should of had this in mind when my men Bible study encountered the verse at Chick-fil-A this morning. And I nearly simultaneously watched with rapt fascination as a toddler "helped" her mother pushed the highchair across the restaurant, I was feeling pretty good about my invulnerability to despising the young. The little one's pure, unburdened eagerness was my inspiration to keep pushing in work and ministry. After all, the best and strongest Parent was sure to supply the actual power.
The glow of self-congratulation lit my way into next week. I work with college students, and I'm constantly inspired by both their zeal for the present moment and their healthy willingness to re-examine thought or practice. Feedback suggests I'm reasonably good at finding the right moment to vocally encourage either. I've earned, I calculated, my 1 Timothy 4:12 badge many times over.
Somehow, the Holy Spirit's whisper cut through the loudness of my internal lauding. If My work, He extrapolated, is that the old learn from the young rather than despising them, how are you doing with the reverse? Would you be so ready to learn, the Spirit incisively challenged, from someone who wasn't so cute, wasn't so amorphous in their capacity to be shaped into what you want to see as the lesson providing the quickest points for your ego?
Toddlers and freshmen won't get in your face to ask the tough questions, the Holy Spirit checked with His unmistakable gentle authority, but I will, and I'll use people from every age and walk of life to do it. The work of Christ to conform you into His image is too precious and too pressing to limit the range of My prophets and My tools.
Even among my same-age peers, He warned, He will often use those from whom I would rather not receive. Where bosses have been hurtful in the past, He reserves the right to use them in His current work over my defensive protests.
Just because, as CS Lewis's Screwtape observes in his eighth letter, human friendships undulate in their closeness from season to season, the Holy Spirit can still use those to whom I might not be as close. They may be odd. They may be brusque. They may still have a point. Welcome them like the little child, and THEN I have progressed in teachability.
Dr. J. Rufus Fears says if we feel good about history, we have probably learned the wrong lesson. There might be a rough biblical equivalent. If we feel too good about ourselves, we have certainly learned the less challenging lesson.
I should of had this in mind when my men Bible study encountered the verse at Chick-fil-A this morning. And I nearly simultaneously watched with rapt fascination as a toddler "helped" her mother pushed the highchair across the restaurant, I was feeling pretty good about my invulnerability to despising the young. The little one's pure, unburdened eagerness was my inspiration to keep pushing in work and ministry. After all, the best and strongest Parent was sure to supply the actual power.
The glow of self-congratulation lit my way into next week. I work with college students, and I'm constantly inspired by both their zeal for the present moment and their healthy willingness to re-examine thought or practice. Feedback suggests I'm reasonably good at finding the right moment to vocally encourage either. I've earned, I calculated, my 1 Timothy 4:12 badge many times over.
Somehow, the Holy Spirit's whisper cut through the loudness of my internal lauding. If My work, He extrapolated, is that the old learn from the young rather than despising them, how are you doing with the reverse? Would you be so ready to learn, the Spirit incisively challenged, from someone who wasn't so cute, wasn't so amorphous in their capacity to be shaped into what you want to see as the lesson providing the quickest points for your ego?
Toddlers and freshmen won't get in your face to ask the tough questions, the Holy Spirit checked with His unmistakable gentle authority, but I will, and I'll use people from every age and walk of life to do it. The work of Christ to conform you into His image is too precious and too pressing to limit the range of My prophets and My tools.
Even among my same-age peers, He warned, He will often use those from whom I would rather not receive. Where bosses have been hurtful in the past, He reserves the right to use them in His current work over my defensive protests.
Just because, as CS Lewis's Screwtape observes in his eighth letter, human friendships undulate in their closeness from season to season, the Holy Spirit can still use those to whom I might not be as close. They may be odd. They may be brusque. They may still have a point. Welcome them like the little child, and THEN I have progressed in teachability.
Brian, I am thoroughly enjoying reading your blog.
ReplyDeleteThe quote by Dr. J. Rufus Fears really stood out to me today. I have been dealing with some of these issues in my life and you are absolutely correct...all that we learn is for us to become better and stronger Christians, so that we may glorify and praise Him.
Praying for you and your ministry blog, brother.