Like Getting a Scholarship!

How would you like to go to college or graduate school and have someone else pay the price? Most of us would snap that up in an instant. It is great to learn, but even better to learn on someone else’s nickel…or drachma…or rupee…or… you get the idea.

Life is often referred to as “The School of Hard Knocks.” And there is a price to pay for our stumbles in life. While we can learn from our own mistakes, our own failures along the way, there is a better way.

For a life-long learner like you, this is good news. The Bible even talks about it as a great strategy. Dr. Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Dallas, commented on this concept in a devotional from their radio/TV ministry, Pathway to Victory.

[blockquote author=”” link=”” target=”_blank”]An important principle about learning from our failures is this: learn on someone else’s nickel. It is good to learn from your failure. But it is better to learn from somebody else’s failure. Failure is like tuition we pay for a college course. Wouldn’t it be great to have somebody else pay that fee? That is what the Bible says we can do. We can profit by learning from other people’s failures.[/blockquote]

Dr. Jeffress goes on to use the example of Solomon found in Proverbs 24. The wisest man who ever lived was walking and saw the field of a sluggard, an obviously lazy man. Rather than just complain or put the person down, Solomon set about to learn from what he observed. And what he saw was a field that was overgrown with weeds and vines and whose wall was broken down from lack of attention. What did Solomon learn?

[blockquote author=”Proverbs 24:32-34 NLT” link=”” target=”_blank”]Then, as I looked and thought about it, I learned this lesson: A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest— then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.[/blockquote]

Someone else paid the price, and Solomon gained the life lesson.

I wonder how many times we observe something around us and simply complain or overlook the potential educational opportunity. We often, as parents, look for “teachable moments” for our children. We help them learn a lesson from their own failure. But how much better if they…or if we…can learn from the mistakes of others? The late American humorist Sam Levinson put it in perspective:

[blockquote author=”” link=”” target=”_blank”]You must learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t possibly live long enough to make them all yourself.[/blockquote]

Now, with eyes wide open, let’s go to school!