King David sang: "teach me to do Your will, for You are my God, Your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness." Psalm 143:10.

You see, if a person is teachable, they need and want guidance. Because of his good heart condition, God used David, when he was just a little shepherd boy, to subdue Israel's greatest enemy. This did not make much sense to Israel's armies or even the enemy. He was very young and not near as experienced or well trained as Israel's warriors were, but God was with David. The anointing was on him because, as the Psalms declared, he was teachable.

This explains to us today why it seems that sometimes the ones we see as highly talented are held back, while the less talented progress much faster. This is especially true in any form of ministry. In fact, if the leadership mistakenly does try to use those that God sees as the unteachable, He will make sure they, the unteachable, do not succeed. Notice, I said He will make sure. They will lack time, health, enthusiasm or whatever the Lord sees fit to make them think it was their idea to quit. Why? Because we teach what we know, but we reproduce what we are. You see, God wants us to be born again and shaped into the image of Jesus, not Satan.

The word conformed means to bring into harmony, fashion, to make the same. For God to do this we must be teachable.

Jesus tells us at Matthew 11:29 that He is gentle or meek and lowly in heart. He was not headstrong and self-willed or unteachable.

Jesus did not see Himself as too wise and spiritual to learn from elders. He listened to truth, became it, and then taught others. Again, He was teachable.

He was a totally obedient person that completely submitted to the will of God.

Jesus was also a loving and even-tempered person that was never offended, even when falsely accused. He had no guilt and so did not see a reason to defend Himself or justify why He chose to do things a certain way. He just kept silent. He would try to make people understand perhaps if they asked, but when they differed, He just stopped talking. He would always defend truth and the rights of others however, but never Himself.

Jesus chose to submit to a very difficult way of life in this imperfect realm, because God had a purpose for Him to be here. He understood He was in Satan's world, so He expected life to be hard and a challenge. The seriously evil conditions He experienced did not take away from the fact that the church had to be moved from Judaism to Christianity and it was His job to do it. A way for humanity to find salvation and be restored, must also be provided for. Again, the job was assigned to Him. To accomplish His mission He would have to walk above unfair situations and deal with the problems and inconvenience the religious people of His day caused. He endured very harsh circumstances from these people at times, but never did He complain, because there was a plan to carry out. There was a predestined work that had to be accomplished. Jesus was focused, faithful and dedicated to God's will and in spite of all the problems Israel caused, totally loyal to those around Him, (even to a Judas).

Ask yourselves, can we be loving to a Judas? Can we be loyal to someone we know is unfaithful, unloyal, and a part of those that are aggressively against us? Can we go on like nothing is wrong and still love them to the end? Are we really like Him? How would we score if God tested us? Are we going to be gentle, meek, and lowly in heart?

Is it as unimportant to us, as it was to the Lord, if people see us incorrectly or unfairly, or do we always have to explain and defend ourselves? Must we seek vengeance when falsely accused, or can we leave retaliation up to God?

Can we stand firm for truth, or do we compromise what we know is true, to keep the affection and admiration of people that are important to us? It's easy to accept that part of truth that will not upset our lifestyle or require a change of our actions, but what if it costs us our family or friends? Jesus says:

Are we really like Him?

Let us ask ourselves, are we still expecting perfection from Satan's imperfect world? Are we prone to hold the people around us responsible for our personal problems and our unhappiness? When unfair circumstances arise, or things seem unjust, do we jump up and down, get our feelings hurt, and proceed to get even? Does it make us feel better to have people choose sides with us? Do we make ourselves the "poor little victim" to gather people to support us? Friends, if any of the above scenarios are reflections of us, believe me, we are not the ones who are teachable. How do I know? Because our Heavenly Father would have taught us better had we been teachable and submitted to Him.

He will definitely train us if we ask Him to. But know this, He may not raise us up the way we want Him to. He just might shape and mold us through unsuccessful business ventures, people in authority over us, our children, our spouse, or even our brothers and sisters in the Lord. Is it their fault the Lord is using them to shape us? No. They are just vessels He uses. We asked to be trained, and God responded, just not the way we expected it. For instance, did we maybe visualize ourselves behind the pulpit, and He gave us toilets to clean instead? Did we go ahead and clean those toilets, or do we not have the time? Or perhaps we said we were really ill, or maybe just flat convinced ourselves that the order wasn't even from God? But know this, these are all responses of the unteachable!

Jesus said He was lowly in heart, but the unteachable are high on their selves. They think they spiritually see and know things others do not. Not even leadership.

The unteachable always have "heard from God" on matters where it is important to convince you of something, thus they can stop any counter discussion that would prove them wrong. After all, you can't argue with God! But would it really be God's voice that an unteachable person would hear?

If the unteachable have an interest in a project someone else is doing, they, at least in their own mind, could have handled it so much more spectacularly. All that are attached to them will agree, and their already big egos soar to new heights. Pretty soon they think they can out do everybody. Oh, they may give God a little credit for the things that they do (outwardly), because they know they should, but in their hearts they really want to be seen as fabulous, the greatest, Mr. or Mrs. Wonderful. God sees their hearts! He also sees them as unteachable!

Where Jesus was loving, mild and even tempered, the unteachable are constantly finding fault with all they associate with for any length of time. Mainly because there is a personal responsibility of some degree to making any relationship work. The unteachable are dead against altering their lifestyle beyond what they choose, and so the person or group they have the responsibility towards will eventually become their adversary. They then voice their discontent against their supposed adversary to others to justify why they didn't follow up on their responsibility. Now the unteachable is walking in the fruit of the accuser of the brethren and division much like yesterday's Pharisees. The same spirits that operated through the Pharisees in the time of Jesus (always trying to trip Him up and looking for faults in His actions), are alive and well today and are manifesting through the unteachable.

All this discontentment causes the unteachable to be emotionally strung out. High one moment, low and in the dumps the next. When high, they try to conquer the world, low, they feel they are not loved, inadequate, and again "the victim" of all they feel they have no control over. Control you see, is a really needed element in the life of the unteachable. All that is in authority over them, in time, will become an object of hatred. The real and basic problem however is this: the unteachable are not in God's perfect will. The Holy Spirit, through trying to convict them of their wrong thinking, is actually the real cause of their unhappiness.

Sadly, a ministry that is unfortunate enough to have the unteachable among them will see division run rampant among their immature. There are of course strong people that truly are in a ministry because they know God put them there, and what others do or don't do, will not affect their walk and obedience to God. They will be immovable, because they are there to serve the Lord, and like Jesus they know they have a job to do for His Kingdom. But the unteachable, on the other hand, are very people-oriented. As stated before, they must be looked up to and admired by those around them. However, where God is, quite the opposite is likely to happen. Remember, He promises to chasten those He loves, so those around them may just be the very vessels He uses to chasten them! Now the unteachable becomes, in their mind again "the victim". They see the leadership as mean, cruel, and unloving, and in their opinion the rest of the people don't like them either. They are probably all jealous of them. At least that's what they think! Remember, they're "fabulous". They forget we are God's workmanship not man's, and it is His good pleasure to complete the work He has begun in us. The unteachable do not understand God's sovereignty and ability to control the circumstances that surround us. They don't really comprehend that all that happens to us, He has allowed! God knows exactly what we need to be shaped and molded to be like Him. It must make Him unhappy to see His children run from His training, lash out at those He is using to raise us up, and set such a poor example for those we've pulled over to our side.

As the unteachable leave the church finally, (dragging others with them), they may for a while feel victorious. No longer are they burdened with submission, obedience and the situations intended by God to help them die to themselves. At last they are free! --- Or are they?

There are two forces at work on this planet (Jesus and Satan). There are two kingdoms fighting to be established (Heaven and Hell). There are two races of people that clash vehemently with each other (Esau's and Jacob's). There are two armies being raised and warriors are being gathered for the two opposing sides (the body of Satan versus the Body of Christ). There is the age of Christianity and the age to come, (time and death) or (eternity and life abundant). We were born to fit into Satan's side, we must be born over again and learn how to be a part of God's side. We must allow God to use the two-edged sword to cut away the old carnal man and then console and heal us.

God will only mold and change the teachable however, (those that give their will to Him). And only those reconstructed into the image of the last Adam (Christ) will be added as leaves to the Tree of Life. The unteachable are born with carnal natures already molded by Satan. As totally attached leaves on the tree of good and evil, they don't want to be changed. They look only at they good in themselves, and refuse to see the evil.

Both sides call to us. We can only be faithful to one in the end. The tree of good and evil will be overshadowed by the Tree of Life however, and it will not receive enough light from the Son to live. Its leaves will wither and die, while the leaves on the Tree of Life will always be green and never fade or grow pale.

In closing, I leave us with this thought. The teachable are the leaves that feed the nations truth. They were shaped into fruitful trees of righteousness, and then assembled together to form the Tree of Life.

The unteachable will not live to deceive or feed the lies of their father to God's people any longer. Their unfruitful branches will be burned as chaff as the tree of good and evil is destroyed. By choosing this day whom we will serve, we will ultimately be making the biggest decision of our lives, to be teachable or unteachable. It is up to us!