Character Conversations: TEACHABLE // The Enduring Value of a Teachable Spirit

A simple daily carpool can turn into a profound spiritual journey when it's used for devotion driven discipleship. Join me (Tosha Williams) as I revisit the origins of my own family's carpool Scripture memorization tradition. This transformed our daily commute into a time of connection and spiritual growth, and it also became the foundation upon which I started the Family Disciple Me ministry. About ten years later, as my youngest daughter is a senior in high school, we are revisiting this tradition one more school year, starting with the character trait of being TEACHABLE. Listen in on this podcast, then join us in the tradition by using the following conversation guide with someone God has entrusted to you!

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CHARACTER CONVERSATIONS:  Teachable

“My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments, 2 for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you.” Proverbs 3:1-2 ESV

SEEK HIM: Devotion is Meeting with God in Our Own Lives! A teachable spirit benefits us, not only in our childhood or teenage years, but our whole lives long. As we spend time with the Lord and “Seek Him” through this Scripture, let’s lask Him these questions and listen to what He wants to speak to us about the character trait of being teachable. 

• WHAT:  What is God saying through this Scripture?  ~ What teaching and commandments are being referred to in this Scripture? Who is the “son” in this verse, and can you apply this to your life if you’re not a son? What are some ways that you can keep from forgetting what you’ve learned? 
• WHY:  Why does this Scripture matter? ~ What kind of life do you want to live? Do you want to experience the bare minimum of life, or would you like more goodness added to your life? Do you have peace in your life; why or why not?
• HOW: How does God want us to respond to this truth? ~ In what ways are you a teachable person? Are there any areas of your life where God is challenging you to be more teachable? How are you learning to “do good” right now?

SPEAK HIM: Discipleship is Making God Known to Others! As we seek to have teachable spirits at every stage of our lives, we model to others what it looks like to be teachable. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 says, “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” Discipleship about being teachable means keeping God’s commands in our own hearts and then impressing them on the next generation. Ask God to help you in this!

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The Family Disciple Me ministry exists to catalyze devotion driven discipleship in our homes and around the world. We believe that discipleship starts with a conversation, and FDM provides free, easily-accessible, biblical resources to encourage these meaningful conversations  along life's way. Sign up through our website to be "the first to know" about upcoming releases and resources (including the FDM App - coming soon!!!) You can also follow Family Disciple Me on social media. 

Family Disciple Me  is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit ministry, and all donations are tax deductible. More information, blogs, statement of faith and contact info can be found at familydiscipleme.org 

Transcript

Character Conversations

Speaker 1 0:00

About a decade ago, I decided that I was going to start using our family carpool time just a little bit differently. So I sat down and I found some of my favorite verses in scripture and then, week after week, month after month for that school year, my kids and I talked about those verses and memorized them along the way. We found at the end of that school year that we had memorized over 30 passages of scripture. It was pretty amazing With five kids in the car, plus maybe a few extra friends tucked in there. It was such an adventure of seeing what we could do when we set our minds to learn to understand and talk about God's Word.

Speaker 1 0:51

Well, as we circle the corner for this particular year, as I begin podcast season number five for the Family Disciple Me podcast, all those children that were in my car well, they're all grown up now, except for one.

Speaker 1 1:09

The youngest is a senior in high school, which I can't even believe. But as I've thought about this year and what God would have me talk to you about with Family Disciple Me and to encourage you in, and thinking about my own family and where we are in the journey, I've decided that I'm going to circle back to where we started. This is super significant for me, because these are the conversations that I'm having with my youngest daughter, journey Grace, and these are conversations that I encourage you to have as well, as you spend time with Jesus and with those you love. It's all about seek Him, speak Him, and in this particular conversation series, we're going to be talking about character conversations, so I'm going to cue our new intro and then we'll be right back to talk about our very first character trait in this conversation theme, and it is the character trait of being teachable.

Speaker 2 2:13

Welcome to the Family Disciple Me podcast. If you have a real relationship with Jesus, then you're in the right place to be encouraged, challenged and blessed as you seek Him, speak Him. The mission of the Family Disciple Me ministry is to inspire devotion-driven discipleship, which is something we believe every Christ follower can do. Discipleship starts with a conversation, so let's get going with that right now going with that right now.

Speaker 1 2:51

As we begin this theme of character conversations, I want to start with a character trait that I believe is foundational for almost every other character trait. It's not one that I used to give so much thought to when I was younger, but the older that I get, the more significant that I see it is, and it's the character trait of being teachable. Now, of course, we think of that in relationship to children, right. Everything we do with a child, we are teaching them, we are training them, we're instructing them and guiding them, and yet I believe this is a character trait that God wants us to have for a lifetime. He always wants us to be teachable, no matter what our age, our stage, our position in life. You show me someone who's teachable and I'll show you someone who's growing, who's continuing to become a better person, who's continuing to develop into the person that God has created them to be. I don't know about you, but I want that to be true of every single one of my children, my grandchildren, but I also want that to be true of me. I love it when I spend time with people who are older than me, people who are in their 70s and 80s and even 90s, and when they reflect back to me what God is teaching them. Those are the people that I want to follow, those are the people that I want to learn from, those are the people that I want to spend time with. You know, god's word says in Proverbs, chapter 3, verses 1 and 2, it says my son, don't forget my teaching, remember what I tell you to do. What I teach you will give you a good long life and all will go well with you. What an amazing invitation, what an amazing promise.

Speaker 1 4:51

The book of Proverbs was written by King Solomon, and, well, we can safely assume that this scripture was Solomon writing to his son. And yet the application is for all of us, no matter who we are, son or daughter, young or old. Because here's the thing Our Heavenly Father has truths that he wants to teach us, his sons and daughters, and then he wants us to turn around and teach those truths to others, our sons and daughters, those entrusted to us, of the next generation, whether they're littles or middles or young adults or whomever. It is, new believers, those that we're discipling, mentoring. God wants us all to have teachable spirits and then to teach others. I believe this is what's at the heart of seek him, speak him, because God wants us to seek him, to look to him, expectant, wanting to learn from him, wanting to understand and know what he has for us, and then, as he impresses those truths on our hearts, he wants us to turn around and impress those truths on others. I love what Isaiah 117 says and wow.

Speaker 1 6:09

This scripture may just as easily be the scripture memory verse for this particular character conversation. And it's this one little phrase out of Isaiah 117, learn to do good. What is it that you're learning right now? Are you learning how to spend more time with the Lord? Are you learning how to spend more time with the Lord? Are you learning how to control your tongue? Are you learning how to share Christ with somebody else? Are you learning how to disciple the next generation? Are you learning how to be open-hearted or open-handed?

Speaker 1 6:47

What is it that God is teaching you right now? Whatever it is, I encourage you in that, I challenge you in that. Let God guide you, let him lead you, have a teachable spirit so that, as he speaks to you, your ears are open to hear what he has to say and your heart is ready to be imprinted by what he wants to put in your heart. This is what he's continually showing to me for my own life. None of us are perfect, none of us have it all together, none of us have learned everything that we need to know, and yet, as we have teachable spirits, we continue to become the people that God has created us to be, and then we're able to guide those precious ones entrusted to us to become the people that God's created them to be. So here's my challenge for you this week. My challenge is for you to spend time with the Lord and seek Him.

Speaker 1 7:49

Regarding Proverbs 3, three verses, one and two, you know, I believe, that a teachable spirit is one to ask questions in order to understand something better. So how apropos to ask the three questions of seek him when you spend time in the scripture as way of reminder, the three questions that I challenge you to ask are the questions of what, why and how. God, what are you saying through your word, god, why does this matter? And then, god, how do you want me to respond to this truth? And then, as you spend time with the Lord and you seek him and you ask him these questions and you have a teachable spirit and listen for his answers. Well, the bookend of seek him is always followed by the other bookend of speak him.

Speaker 1 8:44

Because once you spend time with the Lord, with a teachable spirit, and seek to understand what he's saying to you through his word, then you can turn around and share that with someone else. And well, it may be your children in the back of the suburban, like me so many years ago. Or it may be that you have this character conversation with, well, a high schooler who has the keys to the car and can drive herself wherever she wants to go, and yet you slow her down for just a few moments so that you can specifically lean into the scripture with teachable spirits together. Or maybe you don't have kids, maybe you're a young adult, or you're somebody whose kids are grown and they're not in the house anymore, but you are somebody who wants to invest in and lead other people. Whoever that is, I encourage you to invite them into this conversation.

Speaker 1 9:40

Let's spend time talking about this particular scripture. Let's seek him and ask him the questions what, why and how. Let's then speak him and talk about what it looks like to share with someone else. You will be amazed about what happens when you invite others into the conversation. This is what I call devotion-driven discipleship, because it starts with what God is doing in you as you have a teachable spirit toward him in his word, and then what he does through you as you begin to share that with somebody else that he's entrusted to you. I hope that along the way, that you will take the challenge to memorize this text theme verse that goes along with this conversation.

Blessings and Teachable Spirits

Speaker 1 10:29

That's what I'm doing with my Journey Grace this school year. I'm so excited to circle the tree and do this with her one more time before she launches into adulthood, to drive these truths deeper into our hearts, to have more important conversations about God and His Word and to continue to develop, having teachable spirits. May we continually do what Isaiah 117 says, and that is to learn to do good. Let's set our eyes on Jesus, let's be sure to spend time in His Word, let's seek Him and then speak Him. Oh, friend, may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May he turn His countenance toward you and as you continue to turn your countenance toward Him with a teachable spirit every day of your life, may he give you peace. Now go with God, friend, learn to do good and be teachable. God bless.

Speaker 2 11:44

Thanks for joining us in this podcast episode. You can find the matching conversation guide in the show notes. To get the latest updates about the Family Disciple Me ministry, as well as word about our soon-to-be-released app, sign up to be the first to know at familydisciplemeorg. Also, if you enjoyed this podcast, help us get the word out by leaving us a review on your favorite podcast platform. God bless you, friend. Now go seek Him, speak Him.