Learning & Teaching

Principle #3 in Living A Life That Counts is "A life that counts is a life that never stops learning and teaching/sharing with others." There are few things that show that a person has stopped living like when a person stops learning and sharing with others. I used Moses and the apostle John as examples of older people who never stopped learning and sharing. John's passion for life came from his close walk with God and Jesus, his deep desire that others could enjoy that same fellowship. I especially love his child-like enthusiasm when he declares that when others DO enjoy that special fellowship, his joy is complete. Here are the simple points of the lesson:

1. A life that counts never stops learning.
A. Learning gives meaning to life
B. Learning is growing (2 Pet.3:18 grace & knowledge inseparable)
C. As Christians, learning is seeking (Eph.1:13-19; Phil.3:7-11)
2. A life that counts never stops teaching/sharing
A. Teaching is not just being a teaching = example, giving, sharing, helping
B. Teaching with our life (Matt.5:14-16; Col.3:16)
C. Teaching is our witness (Gal.6:10; 1 Peter 3:15)
D. Teaching is growing (Heb.5:11-14)
Conclusion: If you don't learn & grow, you can't share & grow or help anyone else to do it.

Each of these points & sub-points could and should be separate lessons, but I have been especially thoughtful about the idea that for Christians, learning is seeking. Any real relationship that is growing, is a relationship that we consciously build. More than anything else, God wants us seeking him - a relationship with him. Yes, I know he wants us to love him (Deut.6), but love grows when a relationship grows and seeking is the desire - the commitment - to have a relationship. So what does it mean to seek God? Paul said he wanted to "know him" and everything about him (Phil.3). Seeking is doing whatever it takes to discover more about God, who he is, and why he loves us so much.
When I decided that I wanted to know that cute black-haired soprano, who I was in the chorus with at Harding University, I did all kinds of things to get to know her, what she liked, what she didn't like, and what it would take to get her to notice me. I got a friend to give me a ride to her church, I was late for classes just for the chance to see her, and I did more planning, finessing, and threatening than I care to tell right now, just to get to sit next to her on the bus when we had a chorus trip. When the desire is there, no effort too small or too great.
How can we say that we are seeking God when we do nothing to learn more about him? What are you seeking if it's not a desire to learn more?