Learning by Association

“Learn from Me.”  Matthew 11:29 (NIV) 

A disciple is a learner.  We learn best by association.  Someone once said, “More is learned through living than through lectures.” That was the classroom for Jesus’ disciples.  They learned from Him through their association with Him.  Their classroom was life.  They observed how Jesus lived in relationship with His Father.  He showed them how to live, how to pray, how to be men as God intended man to be.  Seminars, conferences and bible study classes are wonderful, but the greatest truths you will learn will always be in your association with Christ. That’s why the first invitation in this passage is “Come to me …” in verse 28. When we come to Christ, we begin learning the unforced rhythms of grace.  I love the way The Message paraphrases this passage:

“Walk with Me and work with Me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with Me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly." 

Jesus is more than a teacher.  In his classic devotional My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers said, “If Jesus Christ is a Teacher only, then all He can do is to tantalize me by erecting a standard I cannot attain.  What is the use of presenting me with an ideal I cannot possibly come near?  I am happier without knowing it.  … I must know Jesus Christ as Savior before His teaching has any meaning for me other than that of an ideal which leads to despair.  But when I am born again of the Spirit of God, I know that Jesus Christ did not come to teach only: He came to make me what He teaches I should be.”  Have you come to Jesus Christ like that?  You’ll never learn from Him how to live freely and lightly until you do.