Lifelong learning is one of the most valuable skills you can posses in the modern era. Why is lifelong learning important for the Christian? How can you become a lifelong learner? 

The life of Benjamin Franklin provides a profile of what a lifelong learner looks like and how a lifelong learner is built. One of the most admired men of his day, Benjamin Franklin wore many hats— inventor, philosopher, scientist, printer, statesmen, and wordsmith. 

Franklin realized a fundamental truth: you’re either progressing or digressing. Like a canoe, the moment you stop paddling upstream to learn and grow, you drift backwards. In order to keep growing, Franklin determined to continually improve his discipline in thirteen areas. 

Lifelong learning is more than a valuable skill for today–it’s imperative for the Christian.

Learning and the Christian

The Bible encourages Christians to learn. Proverbs 1:5 says, “A wise man will hear, and will increase learning.” Additionally, Hosea 4:6 warns, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.” 

Christ commanded, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” (Matthew 22:37). 

Ultimately, the purpose of man is to glorify God (I Corinthians 10:31). In that endeavor, the right learning makes us better Christians in our work, families, witness, churches, and service to God and others. While the Bible provides specific instruction and principles by which to order our lives, it doesn’t tell us exactly how to perform a surgery, change a tire, or do our taxes. Yet we need to learn things like these to be faithful stewards in each life domain. 

Now that we’ve discussed why learning is important for the Christian life, we’ll examine four character qualities you need to be a lifelong learner. Next week, in part II, we’ll discuss four strategies to employ for lifelong learning.

1. Humility

Learning is a tool, not an end in itself. Throughout history, knowledge in the hands of the right person has accomplished incredible good. In contrast, knowledge in the hands of the wrong people (what Winston Churchill called “perverted science”) has wrought unthinkable evil. Just as the love of money is the root of all evil, so the pursuit of knowledge without the fear of the Lord is ultimately destructive. 

In learning, we should carefully avoid two extremes. First, we should be careful not to be those who are “Ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:9). Unfortunately, this attitude often pervades in our institutions of higher learning.

Second, we shouldn’t become like Pharisees who clutched tradition so tightly that they were unwilling to change or ask themselves if their tradition had strayed from truth. Rather, we should approach learning with humility before God and confidence in His truth.

The right learning perspective should make us more humble the more that we learn. The more the humble person knows, the more he or she realizes that they don’t know. The moment you think you know all you need to know, you stop learning, and therefore, you cease growing.

Humility asks, “What do I have left to learn?” and “Who can I learn from?”.

2. Self-Discipline

For many, the greatest test of learning comes once they’ve finished high school or college, and are left to steer a learning course for themselves. As record-breaking marathoner Eliud Kipchoge observed, “The world belongs to the disciplined.” If you are to keep learning when no-one is telling you exactly what to study, you must have discipline, for only self-discipline will allow you to maintain focus and attentiveness as you learn. 

Without self-discipline, you won’t be able to stick to a learning plan. You’ll find yourself wanting to grow, but unable to make the necessary sacrifices in order to advance. 

Though it’s more difficult to develop self-discipline the longer one waits, it’s never too late to begin exercising discipline in one area of life at a time. 

3. Discernment 

As we learn, we must evaluate every new idea in light of scripture. 2 Corinthians 10:5 calls this taking every thought captive “to the obedience of Christ.” Like the Bereans, we must “search the scriptures daily” (Acts 17:11). Without the filter of discernment, we’ll become overwhelmed and tossed about by every new idea that presents itself.

I like to call discernment the act of separating the bones from the meat. For example, many modern business and leadership resources provide helpful strategies. In my experience, many of these practical ideas help the Christian become better at leadership, time management, and work. However, these beneficial practices are often underpinned by a faulty worldview that sounds good, but may not be scriptural. Often this worldview emphasizes defining personal goals over prayerfully seeking God’s will, and living a life that matters, but not necessarily the one defined by scripture. 

Charles Spurgeon put it well, “Discernment is not knowing the difference between right and wrong. It is knowing the difference between right and almost right.”

4. Curiosity 

At age 12, Christ sat with the learned men of His day, “both hearing them and asking them questions” (Luke). This quality modeled by Christ is the key that unlocks knowledge.

It requires curiosity to dip your toes into broad areas of learning until you find the ones that interest you most. Once you selected an area to dive into, it takes curiosity to peel off each layer of the knowledge onion to keep going deeper and deeper.

Many of the famous scientists of the Scientific Revolution, like Kepler, Newton, and Galileo, were Christians. The sense of wonder they held towards God’s creation motivated them to follow new discoveries.

Why Character Matters Most

If not built upon the foundation of faith in God and His Word, the tower of knowledge will rise higher and higher only to spectacularly crash, as testified by the disasters of the 20th century.

2 Peter 1:5 exhorts, “And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge…” With God’s truth as the foundation, pursue lifelong learning, and you’ll find yourself drawn closer to God as a result.

Question: Why is lifelong learning important for the Christian?