Learning After You Know It All

The late John Wooden is likely one of, if not the most well known coach in college basketball history. I have never really been a big follower of college basketball, which to some will sound like pure sacrilege this soon after the March Madness tournament. However I've always been intrigued by Coach John Wooden simply because one time I read where he had said: "What really counts in life is what you learn after you know it all."

What a profound thought! It is truly one of those "ouch" makers for most of us. The older we get, the more set in our ways we are likely to be. The older we get, the harder it is to master new skills and adapt to new paradigms. The older we get, the more likely we are to tune out ideas. The older we get, the more likely we are to resist or just outright refuse to rethink a point of view.

In my lifetime the amount of changes that has forced me to relearn, adapt and just outright adopt a new value is astounding. And what's even more astounding is that there are those much older than I who have had greater adjustments to make.

How does a physician stay current with new medications, diagnostic tools, and therapies? How does an attorney stay abreast of changes in the law? How does a professor stay current in her area of scholarly research? The key to success in every profession or business is teachability. You can get left behind pretty quickly these days if you refuse to adapt and continue to learn!

In one's personal spiritual life, pride is among the deadliest of sins for the simple reason that it prohibits learning. The idea is not that we should vacillate as doubting, ambivalent or to being wishy-washy. Conviction is admirable. But informed convictions are eager to entertain questions, new ideas, and challenges. It is rigid dogmatism that is offended by them. And Jesus rebuked folks who wouldn't think or grow.

Don't you suspect that openness to instruction was a big part of Jesus' charge that his followers be child-like? "Unless you change and become like little children," he said, "you will never enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:3).

When we look carefully at the individual who doesn't demonstrate this teachable attribute that Jesus speaks of there are some characteristics that are likely to be present.

For example it's obvious that such a person will be one who doesn't grow with any vigor (if indeed there is growth at all). Such an individual deprive themselves of opportunities to garner benefit from the growth and experience of others.

Those who don't demonstrate teachability will probably find themselves feeling isolated from the Christian community. This is because Christian fellowship includes learning from one another, and one who isn't teachable will not wish to interact with others, except in order to overpower them with “superior wisdom.” This, of course, does not lend itself to good fellowship and the individual is usually withdrawn from by others. No one really enjoys hanging out with Pharisees…. except other Pharisees

More good ideas have been killed with "We've never done it that way before" than with good reasons as to why it shouldn't be done some new way.

Maybe the young learn with more eagerness because they aren't afraid to fail. Perhaps the reason older people or firms or churches learn so little so slowly is that pride makes us unwilling to take the risks necessary for progress.

Prejudice against all things new is self-defeating and unworthy of people in God's image. There are no uninteresting ideas, only disinterested people.