Never Stop Learning

“Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.” (Proverbs 23:22)

My parents are in town.

And last night, we were hosting our small group at our house.

These two realities don’t often coincide; so, I thought it might be a good opportunity to utilize the time with my parents for the benefit of our small group.

You see, my Dad has been in pastoral ministry for almost 50 years and my Mom just completed memorizing the N.T. earlier this year. Now, she is working on the O.T. – Ecclesiastes to be exact.

So, I thought there might be some wisdom we can gain from them. We had an informal Q/A here we asked them questions about spiritual disciplines, spiritual growth, memorizing the Word, parenting challenges, God’s providence, etc.

One generic takeaway I had from our time with them last night is this: there is still much I can learn from them.

Every adult child wrestles with the temptation to think “I have everything figured out that my parents taught me” and thinks it is time to shift into a “I’ll show you” mode. We adult kids start wondering if she should abandon the role of student as it relates to our parents being our teachers.

Let me tell you, our roles as learners should never come to an end.

Because no one has reached a stage of perfection, there is much to gain from the wisdom of those who have walked the same paths that we are attempting to walk.

Maybe your parents aren’t redeemed, but they still have earthly wisdom and experience that is of value for you.

Resist the temptation to be teacher only and never learner.

I was reminded of that last night – again – as I heard my parents answer questions from our small group in better ways than I would. They are still worthy and valuable teachers.