LEARN, UNLEARN AND RELEARN

Matthew 5:43-44 You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,

When one speaks about the present in a past tense, it prompts a careful consideration of the possible reasoning behind their words. Jesus does this today when he said to His disciples ‘you have heard that it was said…’, but I say…This was Him rewriting the rule book, establishing a new order and approach to issues.

We can broaden the scope of these words beyond the sense of sight – we can include other means of harnessing information including ‘you have seen, read, or even experienced’ but I say. The words of Alvin Toffler come to mind

‘the 21st century illiterate will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.’

Alvin Toffler

Regardless of its origin, not every piece of information that we receive on our journey through life has a permanent place in our development or in building us up. There will come many moments when we have to revisit what we think we know, what we have believed: about God and about others. We will be required to renew and update our information pool.

Of course the identity and person of God will remain unchanged, it is our enhanced understanding of who He is, what He can do and what His heart towards us is, that would evolve. After these discoveries, there ought to be an updating of our knowledge pool to reflect this and a subsequent appreciation in our relationship with Him. We ought to be prepared to learn, unlearn and relearn.

#sly