Learning From Life
But when He,
the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth.
John 16:13
------------
At this
point many of His disciples turned away and deserted Him.
Then Jesus turned to the Twelve
and asked, "Are you also going to leave?"
Simon Peter
replied, "Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal
life."
John
6:66-68
After Jesus had asked this question to
the twelve that were following Him, Simon Peter simply replied by stating the
powerful truth he had come to know after following the Lord for the last three
years. Jesus really was the One who had the words of "eternal life".
This had dawned upon Peter as he had witnessed for himself many times over that
truth emanating from the Savior. Regardless of whatever else would happen to
Peter during the rest of his life, this was a truth that he would never forget.
Peter's answer was dramatic. Normally,
no Jew would ever think of making such a statement about anyone other than
Jehovah. It was simply unthinkable! Peter knew that any Jew could be put to
death for saying something such as he did (it would have been considered
blasphemy), but this game changing truth had not come to Peter lightly. Three
years of following Jesus and learning His teachings had left something inside
of Peter that would forevermore be an inseparable part of his heart. He had
grasped an eternal truth that would never allow his life to be the same ever
again.
At this point in my talk, I want us to
stop and consider a fascinating thought for a moment: this wonderful truth that
Peter had learned was directly from Jesus.
What if Peter had chosen to study and gain his knowledge from the
corrupted mindset of the Pharisees? What if he had hung out for three years
with them and then followed their perverted examples?
If he had done that, I suppose that his
life and thoughts would have turned out differently than they did.
Yes. Very, very differently.
Everyday, all of us face the same choice
as Peter did; you know.....the one where that we can choose to learn from
whomever we wish? As the hours of our lives flow pass us, we are constantly
making important decisions that direct us to where we will gather our knowledge
and education. Some get it from TV, others find it in books, and many of us
will learn things from the internet. I know that I do.
What we learn, and from whom we learn
it, will always have a great impact on where we wind up in life. Those who
aspire to become the best doctors seek to learn from those whom they consider
to already be the best in their field of study. When one desires to have a
great mind, the practical thing he does is to seek out the thoughts of other
great thinkers and philosophers. Those who dream to be outstanding physicists
try to gain understanding and knowledge from the phenomenal mathematicians and
scientists who went before them. People who want to be good parents look to
research the thoughts of those who have been successful at childrearing.
There is a wise pattern here, you see.
Learn from those who have been successful at what they do.
The people from whom we learn things are
those that we refer to as teachers, and most of us have special memories concerning the ones we have
encountered in our lives.
Usually, the ones we remember most are those who have
genuinely made a difference in our lives. Regardless of whether their enduring
impressions on us were good or bad, all of the things we learned from them have
impacted us in some special way. It may be that a select few of those teachers
left such deep, carved out impressions on us, that they have significantly made
us what we are today.
You may be glad of that and you may not.
I sincerely hope that you have acquired some fond memories
about the teachers who influenced your life. Hopefully, those memories are
about someone who spent time teaching and touching your life in a very positive
way.
(If you feel otherwise, then don't despair. As we shall see later, there is hope even
now.)
As we all grew up and left our school day teachers behind,
there were others that came into our lives who tended to influence and direct
us in many other ways. They were usually those whom we were around every day.
Whether we were at work or play, these people, whom we can call teachers of
life, reinforced the fact that we all are living in a constant state of
learning. We began to learn about things that we never dreamed of when we were
in grade school. We soon discovered that we had enlisted in a different
learning environment. Part of that was what some people called the School of Hard Knocks.
------------------------------------------
Most of us enjoy learning new things. The desire that we
have to learn is very basic to our nature, and that concept is expressed deeply
within us since we find ourselves consistently seeking to acquire new
knowledge.
Consider some of these things we learned as we grew up:
We learned
to walk.
We learned
to eat with a spoon.
Eventually,
we learned to dress ourselves and to tie our shoes.
Some of us
learned to play ball and enjoy sports.
Others
learned to play music and seek the arts.
Some
people learned to do both.
Some have
learned the skills of rock climbing and sky diving.
Others
learned the expertise of boating and water sports.
At one
time in our lives, most of us learned to drive a car. (Of course, as it is
demonstrated daily, some of us learned to do this better than others did....
I'm just saying.... )
Just think
of all the processes we have to go through when we learn how to use our computer
gadgets. Sometimes we have to consult a book, friend, or online site to learn
what we need to know. Once in a while someone will actually break down and read
the instructions....can you believe it?
(Usually, it’s not a guy………)
Here is a list
of some of the great things we have learned to use:
Smart phones.
Smart tablets.
Laptops.
Desktops.
Modems.
Routers.
Web streamers.
...and there are myriad of other
electronic devices that I don't even know
of or have the room to list in this talk.
Most of us will admit that people instinctively have the
innate ability and desire to learn. Rarely would anyone question that. But that
which will make a huge difference in our lives is this: from whom will we choose to learn?
This will make all the difference, and I cannot express
strongly enough how crucial this decision is to your future!
Drug addicts, people in prison, and those with HIV would
tell you this is true............
Consider the following true story to help me illustrate
this concept:
My wife and I once knew a couple at our church who shared
with us that the marriage they were in had deteriorated to the point that
terrible trouble was brewing up all the time. Of course, we were sympathetic
and understanding to them because we knew that problems like this could happen
to any couple. Immediately we agreed to begin praying for this marriage. Sadly,
as the relationship between this couple worsened, one of them began to consult
with friends at work about the marriage problems they were having. Many of
those (as I was told later) had already gone through their own divorces, and to
make things worse, some were currently involved with extramarital affairs. Our
friend had chosen to learn from the wrong teachers and their marriage worsened
immediately. Right away, a terrible decision was made to go out and sleep with someone
else. That decision pretty much destroyed any chance to save their marriage,
and they soon wound up involved with a very ugly divorce.
It is no big surprise that things turned out poorly for
this young couple and their children.
You see, the problem was not that my friend was a poor
learner, the real problem exposed itself when the decision was made to choose
the wrong teachers from which to learn. There is always a
terrible price to pay for doing that. The teacher that my friend adopted in
this case taught them how to choose hurt, anger, regret, pain, and lifelong
scars as companions.
Our hearts broke as we watched this life and marriage being
torn apart, while at the same time, deeply hurtful wounds were leaving scars on
everyone within the family.
I wonder what different
results might have transpired had this couple chosen to consult with and hang
around people who had good, solid marriages; i.e. people who could have offered
up examples of successful marriages and then provided helpful advice to fix the
marriage difficulties they were experiencing?
--Makes you kind of
wish that life had an "undo" button, doesn't it?
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Wrong Teachers
One of the things in life that we all truly need to be
aware of is that there are wrong teachers everywhere. The truth is, Satan
actually has them lined up eagerly waiting to help us get the "stuff"
of life all wrong. They are always waiting; looking for a chance to make us
another one of his casualties. On Facebook, many computer websites, TV shows,
billboards, and a myriad of other places, we can see Satan's luring call in the
seductive titles and icons. He hopes that we will learn how to use the simple
act of "click here" at his enticement. If we allow them to do so,
Satan can use these wrong teachers to destroy our bright futures and sweet
hopes of a happy life.
Actually, when we examine the whole picture, there are both
wrong teachers and right teachers along the paths of our lives, and both are
eagerly waiting for us to meet them.
If you really care about your own life and those around you,
you will begin to make a habit of carefully choosing the right teachers to
follow and learn from.
Dangerous Traps
All too often, people can adopt a certain level of comfort
while hanging out with those who have gotten things wrong in their lives. Sensing
a sort of "connectedness" with the other person's failures brings a
feeling of acceptance. Very few things are more intimidating than being around
people whom we perceive to be successes at life while we, at the same time, are
feeling like failures. This is a very difficult situation in which to find
ourselves, and some people just can't handle the emotional strain of it.
Being with those who have failed at something gives us
another feeling that we are not alone in our failure. If another's failure
happens to be worse than ours is, then we get this warped feeling of
satisfaction that at least we are not as big a failure as someone else. The bad
thing is, we can become so comfortable with failure that we begin to see it as
the norm by which to live.
When we do that, we make the tragic mistake of
lowering our own expectations to the extent that we accept failure as the standard
to which we live. In this way, we don't feel so much a failure at being a
failure.......at least we have succeeded at something.
If you have developed this mindset, then Satan has suckered
you into the philosophy of life that he wants for you.
Get used to living in defeat and misery because that will
be your constant destiny.
This drives me to ask these two vital questions, "Why
would anyone want to accept losing at life as the norm?"
Is this a place in life where anyone would really want to stay?
No, of course not, and there is a way out.....
Right Teachers
Finding the right teachers may be a little harder to do, but they are out there waiting for us. The Lord has them everywhere, and it is very important that we be clear in our understanding of who and what they are.
Get this fact
straight first....they are not perfect people.
Let me relay
to you a story I once heard about an interview being
conducted with someone who was considered to be a successful
banker.
The
interviewer started the conversation with this simple question, "Sir,
would you please share with our
audience today what you attribute
your great success to?"
The banker
looked thoughtful for a moment as he studied over the
question. He then proceeded to answer his inquisitor with only two
words, "Good decisions."
At that, the
interviewer persisted with a second question, "And what,
sir, is it that you feel helped you to
make such good decisions?"
After another
short pause, this time the banker replied with only one
word, "Experience."
The interviewer,
really wanting more information than just a few
simple words, said to him, "Sir, can you then please share
with us
the
steps you took to gain such good experience?"
The banker
then looked as if he were searching his inmost thoughts
for
the correct answer to give to this persevering reporter. Suddenly, he raised his eyebrows as the answer
finally hit him! He drew himself up
with all the sincerity he could muster and proceeded to give out
only two more words, "Bad
Decisions!"
Good teachers are those kind of people that, regardless of
the mistakes they made, have learned that life can be lived in a better way
than most people know. When they have experienced failure, (which every single
one has in some way or another) settling for it was not an option. If they had
any sin hindering them at the moment, they repented of it and then turned their
lives over to Christ so that He could "work all things together for
good" in their situation..... (Romans 8:28)
These good teachers have definitely made their own
blunders, but afterwards they made great efforts to recover. They rejected
"doing it wrong" as the norm for living, and then set out to find
what "doing it right" actually looked like. They did whatever it took
to not stay and live in failure.
Many of them went out and found themselves a "right teacher" to help
them.
These kind of people
can help us avoid a lot of the heartbreak that they may have already experienced
while on their own journey. They always have much to say to people who are
currently pursuing their own way in life and are willing to learn.
Think through these ideas:
If you want a successful career,
hang out and learn from
someone who already has one. Find out
what they are doing and
use it to your advantage. Forget about hanging out with your unemployed friends down at the bar.
Running with losers won't
help you cross the finish line as a winner.
If you want your kids to turn out right,
spend time with people whose kids did turn out right and learn
from them. You will probably
learn what won't work as well as what
might work in your situation. There are no perfect parents,
but there are those who
learned to include Christ in their child-rearing, and that alone has made a huge difference for them.
This is something
worthwhile learning.
If you want to be a success at being a single parent, then find
someone who is learning how to do it well, and learn from
them. The process of learning to
be a good parent is on-going and
challenging for everyone.
If you want to weigh less, choose
to hang out -- and eat with -- people who are thinner than you. Learn
their patterns of being trim. Hanging out with fat people may
make you feel better, but
it won't make you thin. (And praying that prayer, "Lord , if I can't be thin, please make my
friends fat," won't help anything either.)
If you want to be spiritual, find
someone who is spiritual to mentor you. Listen to that person's
heart as you talk together and learn all that you can from them.
Examine the bruises and
difficult times they have suffered through and discover how that you, too, can become amazingly
closer to Christ through your
own trials.
It makes sense that when anyone wants to be a success and
excel at what they are attempting, they should seek out those who are the best
teachers, i.e. those who have had a measure of success at their quest in life.
Who are your teachers when it comes to:
Marriage?
Philosophy?
Morals?
Finances?
Spiritual
growth?
Integrity?
Work
ethics?
Reject the wrong teachers and seek those who will care for
and mentor you. Be careful to allow the Holy Spirit to make the decision for
you when it comes to whom He can use to teach you. He will point out the good
ones if you are paying attention.
Someone may say, "But Dan, all my friends' lives are
pretty much messed up already. What do I do now?"
The answer is simple, but not easy.
Go out to look for some new friends to hang with.
You will never be sorry of doing that.
It may be that you also need a life change that only Christ
Himself can provide. Give yourself to Him as fully as you know how and seek Him
to bring new friends into your life. He has a better record than all the
Christian dating websites put together.
Choose wisely from whom you will learn, and you will wind
up having fewer regrets in life.
Proverbs
9:9-11 NLT
9 Instruct
the wise, and they will be even wiser. Teach the righteous, and they will learn
even more.
10 Fear of
the LORD is the foundation of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in good
judgment.
11 Wisdom
will multiply your days and add years to your life.
Humbly submitted,
Dan
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