I’ve heard it once said that “fools think they are wise, but the wise know they are fools.” ...read that again.
I find immense comfort and safety in that quote. Sometimes I repeat it to myself over and over again as a sort of dissolver for my pride when it starts to swell within me like a toxin.
I’ve heard stories of when kings die and their children inherit their kingdom they reject the sage and stable wisdom of those who have been seasoned by time and therefore experience (the most painful and simultaneously merciful) teacher there is, for the advice of those their age… read that again.
How does that make sense logically?
What does that have to do with you?
Firstly, I’d like to revisit the fact that Pride, the deceiver of stability, feeds on people who think they’re lavish with wisdom when in reality, if you’re looking with spiritual eyes, they’ve been eroded by their ignorance and left malnourished of any real logic of substance that would quench the hunger they so clearly desire. But the kicker that Pride, that devilish “friend” of ours, whispers in our ears is that, “we’re not starving… no! We’re full! Our bellies are full!” He lies. He makes us believe the well inside of us, the cup we have is overflowing— but it isn’t. We’re pulling from a source that has been desolate.
We have all been here. Every one of us. This is why asking the creator to hold you accountable to your pride is the safest way to live at ALL TIMES. It would do us well to remind ourselves that we are foolish creatures who too easily slip into Pride's clutches.
We can always learn from anyone, and anything… we are no better than the convict. We can learn from the child. We can learn from the Special-Needs. Being simple at heart and in spirit is Humility's pride and it’s one that actually satisfies.
But why do we have such a hard time, generation after generation of people, seeing this? Why do we say we agree with these words but live another way? Why is it that when you find yourself stuck in a rut, the first thing you do is inquire for advice from a friend who’s not seen but only a few years more than you? What do they know?
My point isn’t that young folk know nothing… but moreso why do we forsake the opportunity to ask the older and wiser? Those specific people who we can take a clear account of the lives that they’ve lived so far and find immense pleasure in what we see? The fruit of their sowing has reaped a harvest!! Why do we not want to come to their table, ask for a plate, and feast with them on what is clearly a good life full of experience? Why do we settle for the “guesses” or short-term experiences of people practically our age? They are supposed to be companions in the journey we find ourselves on. Not guides!
Titus 2 in the Bible talks about how older women need to teach younger women HOW to respect their husbands and love their families. This means according to scripture… we DON’T INNATELY KNOW HOW TO DO THOSE THINGS. We need to be taught!
It makes my pride swell to imagine myself as a teacher of anyone who isn’t my two daughters, but I think Pride there is being used as a tool by the Lord to keep me in the safety of the correct lane I need to be in. The lane that the Lord has called me on which is to be a teacher to MY children, a friend to those my age, and a student to the few wise women who have reaped a great harvest that I want to one day reap of my own from the seeds I’ve sown with their help. I know I have no business anywhere else.
Now, what does that have to do with you?
I see this far too often in the church where they call on the younger (but only a few years older than the already young, in hopes of “relatability”) to teach and therefore quench the hungry… but the hungry don’t need relatability.. they need a harvest.
Scripture says in Timothy when Paul wrote to him, not to have anyone look down on him just because he was younger, but the context of that was testimony aka your EXPERIENCE with how God has touched, with His Mighty Hand, the desolate roads you’ve walked on and made the barren bushes that line it bloom. Timothy had walked with God as well as Paul, his teacher, for some time, and had Paul (who of course sought the Lord in this decision) give him the go-ahead to teach.
Many have sought out a position for the purpose of self-promotion or to gain a following to compensate for insecurity. But the right thing for any serious Christian would be to heed the instructions to Timothy from Paul, which don’t apply only to shepherds in the Church but to all who call themselves disciples of Christ:
“Do not let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and purity.”
Your words and therefore your life, if they should echo into those hearts who are searching for wisdom's quench, should be saturated with purity and humility… Clean motives.
Now Paul never specifies how old you have to finally be to teach, because that’s something only the Lord can tell you, and He will.
At this moment we can ask ourselves: are the desires and actions of my heart in alignment with words spoken in scripture? Or are my actions, desires, goals, and dreams… are they manipulated to fall into categories in scripture?
Is scripture really my target or is my own will, my pride convincing me that there is a target there?
I want the Lord to hold my heart fiercely accountable to this— because the result of the latter is a starving, malnourished spirit… and I want to be full, especially so I can feed those that I’m called to feed in this season of my life (my children)!
God has spoken seemingly harsh things in scripture like this not to be mean… humility isn’t making us feel small just to feel small. He is merciful, His convictions protect us while we are students learning the depths of wisdom! Humility keeps Pride from casing our eyes with his wretched hands!
Our time to teach will come. But for some of us, it is not now, and that's more than okay.
Humility is our safety! We rejoice in our friend Humility and ask the Lord to embed him deep into our beings because he is a part of our armor.
Focus first and foremost on learning. On bathing & basking in the colorful wisdom that God wants to teach you from everyone around you and especially those who are calling you to feast at their massive table of reaped harvest goods!
Teaching should never be our goal. It should be the overflow of love from our hearts when the Lord has given us so much that we can't help but share the proven harvest with others!