“We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.”

Colossians 1:9b-10

I recently signed up for a continuing education class and through the process of re-arranging and managing my time, I learned that there are a lot of things I need to unlearn in order for me learn effectively.

Learning is a lifelong process of gaining new knowledge, acquiring new understanding, and distributing the skills we have learned. But if we are not willing to unlearn some things as well, our learning is only processing knowledge and not useful for real life or real love.

When Jesus came to earth, He came to unteach us! He came to unteach our prejudices, our judgements, our self-reliance, our bad habits, our labels, our comparison and complaining, our religion, our bondage to sin, and our responses to offense and anger. There are many, many more! But Jesus came to help us unlearn our lifelong patterns of human nature and teach us His spiritual patterns of love and life.

We hear repeatedly from Paul throughout the New Testament (beginning in Acts 9:1-27), how Jesus turned his life upside down when he met Him on his way to kill Christians. Paul’s pattern of life prior to meeting Jesus was one of judgement, privilege, and prejudice. But after Paul met Jesus, he became one of the most powerful messengers for the Lord – because – his was a life that was changed. He had to unlearn his former way of thinking and what society thought was important, to learn the way of honoring and glorifying the Lord.

Paul’s life was transformed from a life that brought fear and division, to a life that brought love and unity. Paul unlearned his entire identity to identify with what mattered most to Jesus.

When we are willing to unlearn our behaviors and attitudes, we free ourselves for meaningful and purposeful conversations. (James 1:19).

When we were are willing to unlearn the fear of differing cultures, thoughts, and opinions, we free ourselves to love like Jesus. (Acts 10:34).

When we are willing to unlearn religion, we free ourselves to know the value of our relationship with Christ. (Philippians 3:1-11).

Unlearning will not only develop our relationship with the Lord and each other, it will help us use our new knowledge and understanding to live life without presumption, have faith without limitations, to love without resistance, and have obedience without hesitation.

Unlearning leads to a life that expresses godly character, courage, integrity and gratitude. “Don’t copy the behaviors and customs of the world any longer. But let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect” (Romans 12:2). What things can you unlearn to love, live, and serve Jesus better?

12 words

Live without presumption. Love without resistance. Believe without limitations. Obey without hesitation.

#SaturdaySoulSearch