Week 47: Teachability - How teachable are you?

“If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Mark 4:23NIV)

 “The Lord of the dance summons us to the floor, and it takes time and discipline to learn the steps, to cease tripping over own feet and to experience the obedient freedom of following God’s lead.” (Craig Dykstra)

 One day I was given an opportunity to speak in a small gathering. At first I was very uncomfortable with it because most of the people in the room were highly educated, some were older than me and most of them as far as I’m concern were very good in their Bible knowledge. Throughout the session, most of them don’t really focusing on what I’m trying to say. Some were sms’ing, some don’t even bother to turn pages, and others were talking with one another. After I finished my sharing, only one comes back to me and said, “Thank you, I gain so much from you.”

Teachability is the desire to remain a lifelong learner. Have you met or known anyone who is highly educated in their academic but never really want to listen to your suggestions, ideas or any outputs from you? Or have you encountered someone that no matter how wrong they had been, would never take your advice to turn from their error? We know many of them. They remain static in their spiritual life. They maintain rather than maximize their openness to learn. They thought “My way is right, you’re wrong.” I was one of them and perhaps you’re on that list too. Come let us humble our heart, together we learn to be a teachable person.

In Spiritual Disciplines Handbook, Adele Ahlberg Calhoun defines “Teachability is a propensity and openness to learn from God no matter who the teacher or what the experience may be.” I like it when she said, “no matter who the teacher”. How often we try to skip learning from someone unknown to us? Hey, God’s speak through anyone He likes; poor or rich, academically educated or none-educated, young or old – everyone! If only we would open our mind to the fresh wind of the Holy Spirit to ‘melt’ our hardhearted we can be wise rather than just knowledgeable. 

Here are some of points that you can practice in the discipline of Teachability:

1.     An appropriate openness to new ideas, opinions, styles and people

2.     Curbing the know-it-all attitude

3.     Asking questions that lead to deeper God awareness (For example, what new things have I learned about God in the last month?)

4.     Listening more, talking less

5.     Refraining from snap judgments based on appearances

To be teachable is to learn to open to the Holy Spirit’s doing a new thing. We become more perceptive listener, a more eager to learn, develop humility in us and overtime, we becoming more aware of harness of heart. When we aware of our short coming and realizing that after all we don’t know everything, it’s easier for us to say “I don’t understand about this, can you help me?” “Oh that’s really helpful. Thank you.”

If you’re familiar with the Bible, you might have read dozen of times when Jesus said, “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” Jesus is constantly looked for teachable people. Adele writes, “Jesus was passionate about those with ears to hear. He was attracted to those who willingly admitted how much they didn’t know. People who could lay aside their prejudices and entertain something new were often the recipients of Jesus transforming word. Jesus is still looking for teachable disciples.” May I ask – How open and teachable are you?

THINK BIG Being a lifelong learner

START SMALL Will you let go some of your own opinions, your words and your biases for the sake of learning something new from God through others?

GO DEEP ““If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Mark 4:23) 

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Reference:

·        Disciplines Handbook: Practices that transform us by Adele Ahlberg Calhoun. Published by InterVarsity Press. (pg. 82)