Being Led and Teachable- Part 2
How teachable are you?
Verse of the Day
‘He leads the humble in doing right, teaching them his way.’
Today’s Devotional
When I was learning how to speak Spanish, I remember a time when there was a word that I did not know. I looked in the Spanish-English dictionary to help me. The word was not there. My first reaction was to be frustrated. How could the word not be in the dictionary?
What I did not know at the time was that this word was a conjugation of a verb. The root verb was in the dictionary, but not all of the conjugated forms. I just did not know where to look. There was so much I had yet to learn.
This same scenario seems to be happening to me as I learn about humility. The Bible speaks about humility in many places, and sometimes I have to know a little more to know what all of the “forms” of humility might look like in my life.
Yesterday we looked at what it would look like if I am not teachable. Today, let’s look at what being teachable looks like. I see all of these lessons as “conjugations” of humility.
Dave DeSelm, who taught us yesterday, says that “teachability is the willingness to learn, unlearn, and relearn.” I see this process happening as I study the Bible. The first few times I read a passage, I am simply learning the words. After much more exposure, often I must unlearn what I thought these words meant for my life. As I do this, I must invite the Holy Spirit to help me to relearn (perhaps many times) what God actually wants to say to me through His Word.
A teachable person never stops learning. Never. There will never be a time in life when we know all there is to know. Even someone who is a master in their craft never stops practicing. What am I doing today to learn something new?
A teachable person learns from failure and mistakes. While mistakes are never what we hope for, they do offer us an opportunity to look at what went wrong and how to correct it in the future. Did I speak before I allowed myself time to think? Did I pray before that decision was made? Did I think of your needs before my own? We see many examples in the Bible of people making mistakes. The people we hold up as heroes of the faith used their mistakes as opportunities to repent and change. To learn and grow. To lean more fully on God. How do I handle my mistakes?
A teachable person remains curious. There are always areas of life about which we know little or nothing. As we expose ourselves to new things, our horizons expand. We see things we never knew existed. We see God in new ways through new experiences. New things are challenging, they cause us to stretch and grow. Often, in their newness, they make us uncomfortable. How better to remind us of our humility when we are exposed to things about which we know little? When was the last time I was truly curious about learning something new?
For me to be a teachable person, I must acknowledge how much there is that I don’t know. Knowing is the enemy of learning. If I declare that I know something, there is an unstated lack of necessity to continue to learn.
There is always more for us to learn. The task remains for each of us to continue to be teachable.
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
What can you do today to learn something new?
Think of a recent mistake or failure. What can you learn from that experience?
When was the last time you were curious about something? What can you do about that today?
Based on yesterday and today, how teachable are you?
How can you invite God to help you to be more teachable today?
How does being willing to learn help you to be more humble?