WHAT WILL CREATION TEACH YOU ABOUT CREATOR-GOD THIS WEEK?

Let’s make a specific effort to find one of God’s many attributes as seen or heard in nature. His patience in the stalking of a red fox while its sight is fixed on a rodent? God’s gentleness seen in a doe as it softly nudges its fawn? His faithfulness evident in the long-awaited butterfly from a cocoon? Let me know what you learn. I’ll share it on my Facebook page.

ETERNAL PERSPECTIVES          by Sally Bair

Teach-ability

My husband had a dog that learned how to open a door by turning the knob with his front paws. No doubt, you’ve witnessed other pets that learned tricks through their own ingenuity.

We learn things on our own, but also by watching or listening to others. And we know that the more teachable we become, the faster and more we’ll learn. We may, however, decide we can do better while using our own method. Chances are we then end up with failure. Pride often gets in the way of our success. Humble teach-ability is required to get the job done well.

Teach-ability requires the motivation to grow, the desire to be undistracted. It takes open-mindedness, the willingness to set aside first impressions, and patience throughout the process.

All these traits point to another requirement of being teachable, that of being a good listener. How good a listener are we? Do we transfer someone’s words into our mind exactly as they’re said? Or do we interpret them into another meaning in the process of traveling from ear to brain? Let’s face it, we misinterpret things depending on our mood, our prejudices, and our faulty conceptions of truth.

Jesus’ disciples didn’t always understand Him accurately. Like us, they heard His words through the cloud of cultural beliefs. When Jesus stopped to heal some lepers, they thought He should back off from the unclean men. When Peter stepped out of the boat to meet Jesus, his faith immediately left as he looked down at the turbulent water. We too tend to believe a cancer prognosis is a death sentence, rather than trusting that God is powerful enough to heal.

Teach-ability brings many rewards. When we decide to learn God’s truths from His Word, He infuses us with life-enhancing joy and peace and the ability to share His truth with others. At the onset of our life as a follower of Jesus, we are as dependent as babies. We must take in the nourishment of His Word in order to grow in faith.

“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.” (Colossians 2:6-7)

Lord, thank You for teaching us the right way we should live. Keep us from being stubborn and independent; rather, help us remain humble and teachable so we can better share Your love with others. In Jesus’ name, amen.