It's good to be teachable (I am). But don't announce it. People are always looking for someone to teach--a lot of them are. I call them unwanted lecturers. They love teaching you how to run your life and your thoughts and your everything, even if you don't ask for their opinion. It's another form of ego-trip. [Image above is from Nathan Dumlao@nate_dumlao, Unsplash.]
The teacher is greater than the one being taught. It's true. But what's a lie is how unwanted lecturers are greater and can teach or advice us on anything under the sun. I choose my teachers well. I don't listen to unwanted lecturers. I check what they have to say out of respect but I never take in anything.
I go to folks I see are worthy teachers and ask for their opinion. They never offer me unsolicited advice that's why I respect them so much. Most times they just listen. They don't assume they know better than I do, so they just shut their mouths until I ask them something.
Or else, they just share you things casually without sounding like a lecturer. I like guys like that. They do not condescend with you. They treat you as equals.
I know from whom I'd get advice or opinions.
So be careful when you say you have a teachable heart because they'd come running after you like starving wolves preying on sheep. As it is, I never ask for their opinions and yet they lavish them on me--what more if I announce that I'm teachable? And the ridiculous thing is, if you don't listen to them they accuse you of being proud and unteachable. They say you're an old dog that can no longer be taught new things. I wonder who's really an old dog here?
And I wonder if they themselves are teachable because they all want to be lecturers.
You see these guys on Facebook. You post your ideas on your own wall for sharing but they come at you, correcting and telling you what's right or wrong. Or telling you their opposing opinions even if you're not interested about them. They think they have the responsibility to police FB posts and correct ideas that do not agree with what they think is right. Empty people.
Because I'm usually polite even when I'm so pissed off, I also listen to stupid advice or opinions. And sincerely at that. It's how you see what's stupid from what's not, and it's how you also see what's really inside a person's head. Aside from being obtrusive, unwanted lecturers are zero. Pfft. As Jesus said (I somewhat restructure it here for a new insight), listen to what they tell you (not really to take advice but to weigh their intellect). But do not follow what they do.
Look at those who fall into trouble (like some drug addicts). After their fiasco, they stand on stage to lecture us about what we shouldn't do--about what happened to them so we'd learn from their mistake. The best they can do is really shut up. Why would I listen to them when I never fell into that pit? They should listen and learn from me because I had the sense not to get into that trouble. Some folks may say I'm too proud and arrogant, but who's really proud and arrogant here? Me who manage to avoid walking into trouble and remain quiet about it or the fellow who fell and still has the guts to tell us how to live life?
Some who fell have worthy testimonies to share and they say it in a humble, sharing tone, not lecturing. I listen well to these guys--not to learn from them--but to see how good God is. However, some folks who share testimonies like that sometimes push it a bit too far and try to be above you just because they see you listening well to them. They think they've become your leaders.
It's a trait of people with small minds. Because they learned or experienced a little of this and that or earned some degrees and titles, they think they have the monopoly of correct thinking. They alone know what's right. I find this often among people who think they alone are bible authorities because they studied theology, not realizing theology is just a small, tiny, minuscule, pathetic dot in the huge world of Scripture interpretation, the great bulk of which is occupied solely by the supernatural revelation of the Holy Spirit. And yet these theologians love to lecture us as if they know something.
Then finally, there are the smart Alecks. They know they know so little, but they want to lecture you anyway. In college, we had this thesis group of 5 people where three out of 4 voted me leader. Unwillingly, I accepted the challenge (being a nonjoiner makes taking leadership repulsive to me). The guy who abstained obviously wanted to be leader--I wanted him, too--but the majority three hated his arrogance. And they knew I was better than them when it came to writing and speaking.
So, as I was writing our thesis proposal, he tired to correct me and edit my grammar. Modesty aside, his grammar sucked, but he believed he was better than I was. Sometimes I gave him some leeway but showed him how his sentence construction was awkward. Finally, when he saw that I typed straight English as I formulated our goals and objectives straightway (without pausing), he shut his mouth. The other guys in the group mocked him. But he expressed his deep misgivings, being sure that what I wrote would be rejected by the dean.
Well, the dean didn't. He gave it one glance and said, "Finally, a group that can write good English and knows what thesis proposal is all about!"
Often, guys who really know about things work quietly and aren't fond of giving lectures--except when entreated.
