Embracing Change: The Transformative Power of Learning

today an amazing thing is going to happen an amazing process going on today you're going to change by the time you go to bed tonight you're going to be a little bit different maybe a lot different whether you do it accidentally or whether you do it on purpose whether it's For Better or For Worse so why not for better because the one thing that we know for sure is you're never going to get this day back again change starts today [00:00:22]

now this character strength is not simply learning this is not about what your IQ is this is about having the desire to learn having an active eager mind and I want to say a word about all of the characteristics since we're talking about love of learning right now they were put together by a group of academicians who looked at all of the great traditions of Life Christianity Judaism Hindu Buddhism The Tao by the way if you ever read C.S Lewis's little book the abolition of man he has a section towards the end that somewhat similarly puts together the understanding of morality or virtue from the perspective of all of these great Traditions [00:01:09]

and interestingly one of the criteria for putting together these character strengths was that they had to be ubiquitous that they had to be understood and practiced across cultures and languages and civilizations and ethnic groups and part of what that tells us I think is that there is a moral dimension of moral reality to The Human Experience and uh Martin segment and Christopher Peterson write in their book about this how they did dozens of inventories of Virtues and strengths they looked at sources from Charlemagne to Benjamin Franklin to contemporary figures like William Bennett Book of Virtues Sir John Templeton [00:01:53]

so for example I heard today from a good friend of mine who one of his signature strengths is bravery now one of my signature strengths is love of learning bravery is not at the top of my list at all it's farther down than I wish that it would so I can use my signature strength of Love of learning and I'll often love to read about people like Winston Churchill who was a very courageous person to gain uh that character strength of Bravery on the other hand my friend can use his character strength of bravery and courage so that when he needs to learn he's a pastor he one time literally did a series called grow up here it was about growing in Courage so he can use that character strength [00:03:24]

now love of learning is uh characterizes a lot of folks in scripture one of them primarily is Daniel so in Daniel chapter one we're told that uh to these four young men Daniel and his four friends Shadrach Meshach and Abednego God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning and at the end of their time of training and education the king questioned them questioned everybody in his service and it says again in Daniel chapter 1 verse 20 in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them he found them Daniel and his friends ten times better than all the others The Magicians and the enchanters that were a part of his kingdom [00:04:18]

when you exercise this love of learning you grow this is a part of loving the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and mind and strength it's very striking that Daniel and his friend flourished in every way they flourished in their work they flourished in their relationships they even flourish physically and I think a lot of that is because they have this eager desire to learn even though they were in a very different place and uh they were enormously challenged they set their minds toward the process of learning [00:05:09]

the first one is situationally triggered interest so if someone was sitting listening to Jesus do this Sermon on the Mount they they might be interested in that moment in that situation or there is uh situational regular interest or maintained interest that's where I'm going back to listen to Jesus on a regular basis and see what he has to say but then there is what's called individual emerging interest and that's where now I'm interested not just when I happen to be in some situation where I'm being exposed to ideas or learning it's begun to take root in me [00:06:16]

and the idea there is that now this Arena of learning is part of my identity I do it Recreation now uh Roger Brethren also says one of the things that prevents us from engaging in this character strength of Love of learning is what one researcher calls our academic self-concept we all tend to compare ourselves to other people and we tend to do that around our minds also sometimes school systems reinforce this when I was a kid growing up you could tell how well you're doing compared to other people by the reading group that they would put you in [00:07:10]

but I think one of the reasons why Jesus chose his disciples he was the only Rabbi we know of that did this other rabbis would have their students apply to them kind of like prestigious students do in our prestigious schools doing our day Jesus went out and selected disciples and I think it's because the ones that he selected uh probably wouldn't have thought of themselves as applying to a great rabbi he was letting them know I believe in you and you will be able to learn [00:08:02]

as you seek to learn ask yourself the question how might I apply what I'm learning today to my actual life it's very very striking when people do this whatever the subject matter is when they look at how can I apply this to my life how might it change my life their learning goes way up [00:08:43]

now one of the primary characteristics of Jesus is he never taught only for information he always taught for the sake of Life transformation so today seek learning love learning what can you discover from this or from something else what can you tell somebody else reflecting on how could this change my life and then relationships when we talk about what we're learning together with other people teach and admonish one another the Apostle Paul says that's another way that our love of learning goes way up today how can what you are learning change your life [00:10:40]