The Student is More Valuable than the Teacher

“Better [is] a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish king, who will no more be admonished.” (Ec 4:13 AV)

The implication of the child is his poverty may be caused by lack of wisdom, yet he is willing to listen that he might cease to be poor.  This young man compared to an older king who, by virtue of wisdom has become king, yet has ceased to listen to the advice and admonishment of others.  As far as the LORD is concerned, a mistake making and unsuccessful person who listens to advice is better than a man who has proven himself successful by wisdom yet has ceased to learn.  Not that the LORD would care, but I agree!

As a pastor, I would rather lead mistake prone people who will learn and change than a group of people who have ceased to grow.  No matter how successful and mistake free they may be, if they have ceased to listen, they have ceased to grow.  The first has potential.  The latter has reached their potential.  The first can pursue goals and aspirations.  The later have attained pretty much what they will accomplish and are on cruise control until death or the rapture comes calling.

What us middle aged people need to guard against is the temptation of self-reliance.  We have made our share of youthful errors and have learned the hard way.  However, if we are not careful, we will begin to think all of life’s wisdom means there isn’t much more to learn.  Another consideration is the temptation of thinking that younger people who are making mistakes are somehow less of an asset or value to the LORD than we are because we are making less mistakes.  This is not God’s economy.  He values humility and teachability.  Not the size of our house, career moves, business success, or any other temporal standard by which we measure success.  The real question is not how much we have learned, but rather, how much are we still learning!