Never too old to learn

Learning

One thing recently that has come to our attention is that, however old we get, we are still given opportunities to learn something new. I suppose it is one of the great eternal truths that we never stop learning and maybe we never will. Maybe our brains are no longer the ‘information sponge’ that is a child’s brain. Maybe the thirst for knowledge slows down a bit. Maybe the old memory does have a hiccup from time to time. But we still learn almost daily.

When Jesus introduced the disciples to Holy Spirit, He did so with the words, John 16:12-15 The Message (MSG) "I still have many things to tell you, but you can't handle them now. But when the Friend comes, the Spirit of the Truth, he will take you by the hand and guide you into all the truth there is. He won't draw attention to himself, but will make sense out of what is about to happen and, indeed, out of all that I have done and said. He will honor me; he will take from me and deliver it to you. Everything the Father has is also mine. That is why I've said, 'He takes from me and delivers to you.' “ Some translations use the words ‘teach you all truth’ instead of ‘guide you into all truth’.

John himself didn’t write his Revelation until he was on the island of Patmos, many years after Jesus had returned to the Father in heaven. Paul wrote many of his letters from a Roman prison cell – once again years after he started his work for the Lord. They were not encumbered by age. They didn’t talk about being too old to learn. Not at all. Rather, they embraced the opportunities to learn more about their Saviour and their God.

So it is with us. We are never too old to learn. My wife and I have just finished a three months, six part ‘training course’ run by our church. It was wonderful to learn about new things from teachers our own age but vastly more experienced than ourselves. We truly feel better equipped for God’s work now than we did before. In fact, the course has taught us how much we DON’T know as much as how much we now know.

Why is it that many folk deem themselves too old to learn? Why do they either think they don’t want to make the effort of learning, or that they know enough already and don’t need any more. Over the years, I have learned that it is better to sit at the feet of a good teacher than anything else.

Sadly, there are many who are also ‘learning junkies’. They attend course after course after course but do nothing with that which they have learned – they hoard it and keep it to themselves. We all need to learn the balance of learning and passing knowledge and experience on to others. That is what is so sadly missing.

We have the great privilege of having one of the world’s leading teachers visit us in a couple of weeks time. R.T. Kendall will be leading a series on prayer and it is so popular we have had to make it ticket only. However, the question remains – what will we do with what we learn? How will it influence our lives? How will we use it for God’s Kingdom?

Only time will tell.