Monday Office Hours | 6/2/25

A Teachable Spirit reading group (pt. 5) & a thorny question about whether the Old Testament covenant people had regenerated hearts.🌵🌵🌵

A Teachable Spirit—Chapter 5 [‘Learning from Children’]

I recall once reading one of St. Augustine's descriptions regarding the mark of sin. In his “The City of God”, Augustine discusses how sinners typically perceive the world in terms of what it can provide for them. Essentially, in our sin, we become ‘takers’ of what exists for our purposes. Creation, from the perspective of the rebellious person, is not seen for its inherent value. Instead, it is viewed only for the benefits it offers humans. Sinners do not regard creation as “good” in the way God intended. They only see creation as “good for” specific, selfish purposes. Augustine goes on to say that we’d prefer bread and gold to mice and fleas because the former fulfills our desires. Augustine continues,

And so strong is this preference, that, had we the power, we would abolish the latter from nature altogether, whether in ignorance of the place they hold in nature, or, though we know it, sacrificing them to our convenience.¹

Augustine’s point is that sin causes us to love only that which can benefit us. Which brings us to this week’s chapter. In this chapter, we explored how we can learn from children and how they have a great deal to teach adults if they are willing to learn and listen. This is one of the things I’ve learned by having a child and being around children in our home.

My niece Lily offers us a perfect illustration. Just last week, as I sat on the front porch after a long day at work, she walked around the front yard, enthralled over every little bug she happened upon in our grassy lawn. At one point, she had discovered some snails. And their very existence brought her a joy that is virtually unfound among adults. “A.J.!,” she yelled, “come and look at the slimmmmmmy snails. Aren’t they sooo pretty?”