Lately I've been reading How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler. And yes, the irony of reading a book about how to read books isn't lost on me.
As I was reading this morning, I came across a great quote about teachability. I especially value the way he points out that critical thinking is not a negative trait to have.
"We are discussing here the virtue of teachability - a virtue that is almost always misunderstood. Teachability is often confused with subservience. A person is wrongly thought to be teachable if he is passive and pliable. On the contrary, teachability is an extremely active virtue. No one is really teachable who does not freely exercise his power of independent judgment. He can be trained, perhaps, but not taught. The most teachable reader is, therefore, the most critical." (page 140 - italics are Adler's)
I've been working on a series about Jesus' "I Am" statements in John for my junior church class. I know this is nothing new and many others have written about these statements. However, I wanted to share some thoughts from Christ's statement in John 14:6. I've been familiar with this verse for most of my life. As a child I always thought it interesting that in German this verse contains examples of nouns in all three genders.
As I was studying it in the past couple of weeks, the following thought stood out to me:
Jesus makes a significant statement about Himself.
- once again, He affirms His deity - “I Am”
- “the way” - the means by which a person comes to God the Father
- “the truth” - the only true truth – anything that denies Jesus is not truth
- “the life” - the only means of real life
In that one sentence Jesus manages to pack so much significant theological truth.
