Do you ever get annoyed when it turns out you were wrong? I find my assumptions, conclusions, and guesses to be wrong more often than I’d like. It’s humbling.
In the business world, one “soft skill” employers like to see in a prospective employee is a willingness to learn. I’m sorry to say that for much of my life, I was stubborn and unteachable.
For me, this showed up at work as a fear of new technology and software. I was quite comfortable with the few tools I knew, and saw no need for more. In contrast, my manager beautifully modeled a willingness to face any challenge head-on, an attitude I have come to admire. It took a book and a few online courses to overcome my unteachable mindset. But I gradually changed my thinking from, “Oh no! That looks hard! It’s not familiar or intuitive! And I don’t like it!” to, “Okay, this is new for me NOW, but people all over the world are using this tool. If others can learn to use it, so can I!” Now when faced with something new, I take lots of notes and, if possible, record any training sessions so I can go back and watch them to increase my familiarity and competence. And I consciously fight the temptation to be resistant or fearful, knowing God wants me to be humble and teachable.
The unteachable spirit evident in the scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees rankled Jesus. Despite great ability to quote the scriptures, they missed their point. They flaunted their adherence to every detail of the Law, while identifying others’ failures. Assuming God graded on a curve, they conveniently overlooked their woefully superficial application of the Law, which amounted to even greater sin. Self-reliant, self-centered, and smug, they got it all wrong! The point was that no one could keep the Law perfectly and everyone needed a savior.
Jesus was the greatest teacher the world has ever known. He revealed the Father’s heart in word and deed, yet the Jewish rulers rejected Him. His wisdom, love, and supernatural power were evident to all who paid attention–but these leaders refused to learn from Him, convinced they were right and that God was in their court. Jesus denounced their proud, stubborn mindset, openly declaring, “They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as their finger…they do all their deeds to be noticed by other people…they love the place of honor at banquets, and the seats of honor in the synagogues.” He openly called out these hypocrites, saying, “You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are” (see Matthew 23:4-7,15). Jesus didn’t hold back in His assessment; no wonder they wanted to kill Him!
Centuries later, Abraham Lincoln wisely stated, “Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.” How might things change if you humbled yourself and asked God for His perspective the next time you’re tempted to dig in your heels?
