Recently, I was asked about teachability. Someone close to me asked, “Are you a teachable person?” I learned a lot from such inquiry. Being teachable, according to dictionary.com, means that you are a person “capable of being instructed.” I like the quote offered in freedictionary.com, “Teachability is a demonstration of humility that demonstrates that a leader is willing to learn even from the least of his followers or staff.” When reflecting on the idea of teachability, I recollected Daniel San, who was the main protagonist of the Karate Kid series.

Daniel San had lost his father at an earlier age. His mother, a widow, worked hard to make ends meet. After moving to California, he found himself in unwanted situations where a boy named Johnny began to harass him. Wanting to defend himself and his honor, Daniel began seeking karate lessons. It is here that Mr. Myiagi enters the story. Mr. Miyagi agreed to teach Daniel the ways of karate. But he started in an unusual way, giving Daniel San a series of chores, including painting a fence, painting a house, waxing a car, and sanding the floor. Another non-karate way Miyagi teaches Daniel is the art of bonsai arrangement, a hobby for Miyagi, but also uses it as a way to get Daniel to concentrate. These tedious activities were to teach the young man that most times the extraordinary is preceded by the ordinary.

At one point Mr Miyagi says, “I promise [to] teach Karate, after my path. You promise [to] learn. I say, you do, no question. That’s your part, deal?” To which, Daniel replies in the positive. Then Mr Myiagi picks up a sponge, gives it to Daniel, and says … “First, you wash all the car, then you wax car…” As he is talking, Daniel attempts to scoff at the task, and Mr. Myiagi interrupts him immediately saying, “Remember deal! no question!” Finally, he instructs Daniel saying, “Wax on, right hand. Wax off, left hand. Wax on, wax off!” (Check out video here: https://youtu.be/SMCsXl9SGgY). As he leaves, Daniel San, with a puzzled look on his face, proceeds to wash and wax the car.

Daniel San offers us a few lessons about teachability here. First, when we come under the authority of someone, we must be willing to submit. As Mr. Myiagi said, “No questions!” This is really hard because our first inclination is to want to defend ourselves. However, the way of humility is the best road to travel. Humility teaches us that we have not yet arrived, that we have much to learn (Mark 9:35). Humility teaches us the character of God, who humbled himself as one of us even though he didn’t have to (Phil 2:5-11). And humility is the best remedy for a prideful, idolatrous, and angry heart (Prov. 29:23).

Second, we learn from Daniel San that if we are to grow, we must learn from others who are more experienced than us. Proverbs 25:12 says, “Like a gold ring or an ornament of gold is a wise reprover to a listening ear.” I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time listening to others. I often interrupt people when talking. When I get excited, I tend to overtake a conversation. These are things I’m working hard to overcome. Why? Because there’s reward in not just hearing people, but listening to what they have to say. It does take a certain level of self-awareness for each of us to grow in the areas we are weak in. Someone wiser then I coached me on this very subject recently. The question is…are you and I willing to receive feedback from others with a humble heart? Reproof is good, look for someone who has their best interest in mind for you and learn from them!

And finally, Daniel San teaches us that there is value even in doing mundane things. We often times want to climb to the top of a mountain without training at the gym first. Endurance is key. I remember many years ago a seasoned pastor corrected my understanding of Galatians 5:22, by telling me that one of the qualities of the fruit of the Holy Spirit is not “patience,” but rather “perseverance.” The word patience is not a proper rendering of the Greek makrothymia, which should rather be translated as “long-suffering,” “endurance,” or “perseverance.” Perseverance is cultivated in the fires of adversity, and often times over long periods of time followed by repetitious action.

Here’s how you know you are teachable: 1) You don’t get offended when others give you advice, 2) You recognize you have not yet arrived at your craft, no matter what that craft is, 3) You welcome criticism and seek to grow from it, 4) and you value humility over having a self-serving attitude. Perfectionism is not the key. Rather, having a Christ-centered outlook in life is the best way forward. That’s why Paul wrote, “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.“

Here’s to the work of the Holy Spirit in us, as we learn to be teachable!!

The following verses are reminders to all of us of the value, and benefits, of accepting guidance and wisdom from others:

Proverbs 9:8-9 ESV – “Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.”

Proverbs 10:8 ESV – “The wise of heart will receive commandments, but a babbling fool will come to ruin.”

Proverbs 10:17 ESV – “Whoever heeds instruction is on the path to life, but he who rejects reproof leads others astray.”

Proverbs 12:1 ESV – “Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.”

Proverbs 12:15 ESV – “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.”

Proverbs 13:18 ESV – “Poverty and disgrace come to him who ignores instruction, but whoever heeds reproof is honored.”

Proverbs 15:31 ESV – “The ear that listens to life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise.”

Proverbs 23:12 ESV – “Apply your heart to instruction and your ear to words of knowledge.”

Proverbs 25:12 ESV – “Like a gold ring or an ornament of gold is a wise reprover to a listening ear.”

Written by Daniel Messina