I was teaching guitar to a young man recently and had a bit of a flashback to when my older brother was teaching me.
I was explaining something to my student for his first lesson and asked to play his guitar to illustrate what I meant. His eyes got really wide as I strummed through a few simple chords.
I remember that feeling. The one of holding your first guitar not knowing how to make it sound right. Then someone more experienced takes that very same guitar and plays music on it and you realize what is possible.
But being on this side of it, seeing his reaction to what I considered very basic playing, something dawned on me. I've been playing guitar for about 35 years, but I always look to what I can learn, I am not always aware of just how much I have learned and can teach.
And because of that, just how much I have to offer a person who is just starting out.
What is true in guitar lessons is true in life.
The first step to sharing our life lessons with new believers is to realize that somewhere along the line we learn things that we can pass along. Then we look for the opportunities the Lord provides to share those things.
In this way, we are always learning, but teaching as well. In our walk with the Lord, as the years go by, we learn more and more and the times we teach others should become more frequent.
That's maturity, that's discipleship.
After spending some time with the disciples, Jesus was ready to send them out. He said, ""Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, proclaim this message: 'The kingdom of heaven has come near.' Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give." Matt 10:5-8 (NIV, emphasis mine)
We all have something God has freely taught us, and we all have something we can therefore freely give.
But it starts with asking the Lord to show us what those things are.
