Jun 3

Jun 3 Learning for a Lifetime

I have lost count on the number of moleskin notebooks I have worked through over the last decade. As always, I think, “I will keep this one more organized.” But it never happens.

Opening the pages for the first time I hear the crackling of the binding be stretched. Most people might go to the first page however, I go to the last.

You see for the last several, probably eight, years, I have started each new notebook by writing out my personal ‘core values’ on the last page.

Years back a friend challenged me to develop core values, the things I believe should drive my life decisions.

Number 8 is “be a lifetime learner.” It is important to me that I continue to learn new things.

As often happens I read a scripture that I had read many times before but this time it reminded me of value number 8.

When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments. 2 Timothy 4:13 (ESV):

This was written by the Apostle Paul, giving instructions to one he mentored, Timothy.

By the time Paul wrote these words he had been on mission for God for thirty years. Yet, he was never too old to learn. The parchments would have been scripture but there is no concrete evidence of the content of the books.

The great orator/preacher Charles Spurgeon wrote about this one scripture this way:

He is inspired, and yet he wants books! He has been preaching at least for thirty years, and yet he wants books! He had seen the Lord, and yet he wants books! He had had a wider experience than most men, and yet he wants books! …The man who never reads will never be read; he who never quotes will never be quoted. He who will not use the thoughts of other men's brains, proves that he has no brains of his own.