Teachable?

“Older women…are...to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.”


In Titus 2:3-5 we see two groups of individuals: the older and the younger; one is to teach; the other is to learn.
For this to happen, there is the necessity that the older woman be willing, as well as the assumption that the younger be listening.

Am I (are you) teachable? (An open minded, willing listener?)

3 areas of our responses reveal an un-teachable spirit:

1) Blanket dismissing (yawn!) of familiar, oft repeated truth/topics from Scripture.
‘We’ve heard it all before’ or ‘we’ve already got that topic covered’ or ‘been saturated with teaching on that command already’ so we just bide our time until the speaker (teacher) moves on. Instead of giving serious inquiry to our heart & action, even later seeking input for our benefit from others close to us, our minds drift into autopilot, assuming there is no more I need to learn about this.

2) Rejecting all but the most current, ‘expert’-derived teaching.
If it is old-fashioned or from an older person, we deem it ‘out of touch’. We practice ‘chronological snobbery’ when we show favoritism to 21st century state of the art trends while ignore or dismiss the faithfully proven heritage of truth of past generations. There is much to learn from these giants of the faith, and we disregard their wisdom to our own loss.

3) Insisting on comfortable, ‘perfect fit for me’ teaching styles and/or our ‘favorite’ personnel…and discounting all else.
“He’s too cerebral, too slow & tedious”; “she’s too touchy-feely”; “he tells much too many stories”. Or perhaps dismissing anyone that isn’t a follower of a certain theological or family-life philosophy category you hold important. Is God’s truth only given through your guru? Can nothing be learned from someone else? Is it a mistake that God ordained you be sitting in the audience listening to just such a person or sitting across from just such a (non-conformist) woman who is offering truth?
Where you are most resistant to listen, ask yourself why. Then go on to seek Biblical truth in what you are hearing with an open (yet discerning) mind.

May God enable us to be teachable, open to His Word, whether from an older woman or any human conduit of His truth.