How well are you learning what the Lord is teaching?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.
(Titus 2:2 (NIV))

There is an old saying that with age comes wisdom.

I suppose that all depends on your definition of wisdom!

Far too many people falsely think that knowledge is wisdom, but they fail to recognize the fact that what you may know can lead to bad results. Wisdom is so much more than knowing facts, especially when you consider that facts can be twisted to make you come to wrong conclusions. Wisdom takes the facts and allows you to discern truth. It is the application of good judgment to the facts. It is possible to be filled with knowledge yet still be unwise. It is also possible to be older and unwise. Sometimes even the wisest among us will still have things that they need to learn so that they can be better at discerning the truth.

I love the fact that this passage starts with “Teach the older men.” Instantly it implies that each of us still have much to learn with respect to our faith walk no matter what our age may be. It also implies that not a single one of us is completely mature. Each of us may need to realize that we may not be as mature in our faith as we think.

We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.
(Hebrews 5:11-13 (NIV))

We have so much to learn in our faith journey with Jesus. Not a one of us is perfect. We all have lessons that we are learning and many that we still need to learn.

How well are you learning what the Lord is teaching?

Copyright 1998 – 2018 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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What are you learning?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.
(2 Timothy 3:7 (NIV))

I find it interesting that almost every aspect of our society is so overwhelmed with learning more and more. On the surface, this sound very good. For the most part it is. The problem comes when we focus so much on what is learned and forget about truth, when we focus more on man-made credentials instead of the wisdom that God bestows.

I even see this in many churches.

How many of you have heard someone say something like, “They can’t do that. they don’t have a degree.” Think about that for a moment in relation to the movement of the Holy Spirit. If God has given someone a gift and the Holy Spirit enables that gift, who are we to stop it just because the person doesn’t have a degree in the area? I don’t know about you, but this sounds very similar to being a Pharisee. Did they accept John the Baptist? Didn’t they try to stop Jesus? Speaking of Jesus, what man-made credentials did He possess? Think about that in relationship to the church that He calls His own. Think about that in relationship to the men whom He drew close to Himself to be His disciples. They did not possess man-made credentials, yet He used them to spread the Gospel and to reach the world.

There is often a big difference between learning and wisdom, or in reference to this passage, learning and knowledge of the truth. It seems to me that the more we focus on learning, the less wisdom and knowledge of the truth that we possess.

Think about this in relation to your studies. What are you learning?

Copyright 1998 – 2018 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Do you pay attention to the lessons God is teaching you?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
(Matthew 24:32-35 (NIV))

Too many of us do not recognize the symbolism referenced in this passage because too much of our society does not understand the growth and harvest cycle anymore. We are so used to going to the grocery store and getting what we want. We complain when we can’t get something because it is not in season. We miss out on the way that God intended for us to get our food and the knowledge that everything has signs that tell us when something is about to be ready.

Be honest with yourself.

How many of you could actually plant a garden and know what to do to take care of it? Would you be able to know when the various plants would be ready to harvest? I know that I am probably going to extremes, but I am trying to show that we have lost touch with much of what God has given to us. We no longer look at things and know what will happen next. We expect everything to be the same all of the time.

We have lost the ability to learn the lesson that we are told in Matthew. All of our conveniences have made us think that we are in control. We think that we, as humanity, can manage anything and make it better.

Have you ever heard it said that our education system teaches us more and more about less and less. Think about that. People spend a lifetime becoming experts on one topic and in many instances, they know nothing about anything else. We have educated ourselves out of common sense.

God gave us the world. He gave us the seasons. He gave us the ability to know things of the world that He created, yet, in all of our so-called wisdom, we have lost site of the obvious. We no longer can see the lessons that God has placed right before us.

We over analyze everything and most of the time we are wrong. Think about that. We attempt to learn the logical way that the world works. Many reject the way that it has always been done simply because it can no longer be accurate and truly reflect today’s way of thinking.

I don’t know about you, but today’s way of thinking is a scary proposition. Many people believe that they can successfully do what others have tried and failed. They are arrogant enough to think that the reason the other people failed was because it was not them who were doing it.

How many have heard the saying that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results?

I honestly think that is exactly what is going on in much of the world. We, as humanity, have gone insane!

We ignore God.

We ignore His lessons.

We ignore His truths.

We ignore His Son, Jesus.

And, . . .

We embrace insanity.

It is my prayer that we learn the lessons that God is trying to teach us before it is too late.

Copyright 1998 – 2014 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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