Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
—Matthew 11:29
The first virtue of a pupil is a willingness to be taught. What does this imply? He must have an awareness of his own ignorance, a readiness to give up his own way of thinking. He must look at things from the teacher’s standpoint. He must have a quiet confidence that the master knows and will show him how to learn to know, too. The meek and lowly spirit listens to know what the teacher’s will is and how to carry it out. If a pupil has this kind of spirit, it must be the teacher’s fault if the student does not learn.
Why is it that, with Christ as our Teacher, there is so much failure and so little real growth in spiritual knowledge? Why is there so much hearing and reading of the Bible, so much profession of faith in it as our only rule of life, and yet such a lack of the manifestation of its spirit and its power? Why is there so much honest, earnest application in the prayer closet and in Bible study, but so little of the joy and strength God’s Word can give?
These questions are ones of extreme importance. There must be some reason why there are so many disciples of Jesus who think they honestly desire to know and do His will, and yet, by their own confession, they are not holding forth the Word of Life as a light in the world. If the answer to this question could be found, their lives would be changed.
“Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” Many people have taken Christ as Savior but not as Teacher.
This teachable spirit that refuses to know or do anything in its own wisdom is to be the spirit of our entire lives, every day and all day long. In the morning hour this spirit is to be cultivated, and deliverance from self is to be achieved. It is there, while occupied with the words of God, that we need daily to realize that these words have value only as they are opened up by the personal teaching of Christ. We daily need this experience so that, as the living Lord Jesus takes charge of us, His teaching can be received. It is during this quiet time that we must cultivate the teachable spirit that takes up His yoke and learns from Him.