I’m still learning to be more like my teacher. How about you?

By Dean Collins

I once knew a child genius. Really he was. He is no longer a child but he is still a genius. He has a truly remarkable intellect. He was under 12 when he enrolled at the university and was already being recruited to the Ivy leagues, but his parents weren’t quite ready to send him away from home.

I spoke to his professor about what it was like to have him in class with the older students. He said the biggest challenge was getting him not to try and teach the class. He was very skilled with the material but didn’t yet possess the wisdom of managing the classroom. He was a bright disciple, but not yet above his teacher, even if he may have technically been much smarter.

Not like my teacher

Jesus said that when a disciple is fully trained he will be like his teacher. I don’t know about you but I am not fully there yet. I know a lot of Scripture. I think I have learned to interpret and explain Scripture fairly well. But I am not yet like my teacher. I can hang in the room with some of my teachers who are much smarter than I am.  I don’t embarrass myself too much when I am with those who have mastery over the Greek and Hebrew texts. But if our ultimate guide and teacher is Jesus, then I have a long way to go.

I don’t fall in many pits but I do trip from time to time. The bigger problem is the speck in your eye. I can see it pretty quickly. I am good at seeing your weaknesses and maturity issues. I actually did a lot of graduate work in helping people get to the root of their problems. But somedays I could nearly knock you over with the stick in my own eye.  More often than I want to admit, I miss my own blind spots. 

I think the solution is to spend more time with my teacher. It would be great to know what he knows, but that isn’t going to happen. Jesus knows all the stuff, and I can learn a lot from him by reading his words in the Gospels. But he never actually has asked me to know all the stuff. He has called me to follow him, which has a lot more to do with doing better with my actions than knowing all my memory verses. 

Be like a tree?

I think instead of trying to be the smartest guy in the room I will focus on being a good tree. I love trees. They are more predictable than teachers and students. The thing about trees, if you have a good one, is that their fruit is predictable. I have never found a peach on an apple tree. I can go to a healthy peach or apple tree and find what I am looking for every time. And those trees don’t have thorns that stick me when I pick them.

Jesus said a good person can have good treasure in his heart. So it is easy to do good things. I think I get the point. I am going to focus on putting the right stuff in my heart from God’s Word. I am also going to pay attention to how the Holy Spirit directs my thoughts and guides my actions. If I do, I think I will make some progress with my actions. Jesus always did the right thing. I am going to focus more on imitating those right things so I will be more like him.  If I do, then I think more people who are blind and lost will find me more dependable.

Help each other

You probably already know a lot more than I do, and I am looking forward to learning from you. But every now and then that log in your eye blocks my view just like the one in mine blocks yours. We can both accomplish more for Jesus if we agree we should focus more on being like him. We both call him Lord. The last thing he said about that was don’t say it if we aren’t going to do what he said to do.  Our actions are proof of who we are following.

I am not going to stop taking in the good stuff from God’s Word. You shouldn’t either. But let’s agree to help each other stay on track with making sure our behavior is aligned with the good that Jesus has planted in us. I think if we do, the gospel will spread and the Kingdom of Heaven will keep expanding.

Your time with God’s Word
Luke 6:39-49 ESV

Photo by Taylor Wilcox on Unsplash

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