“For I bear him [Epaphras] witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis.” (Colossians 4:13, ESV)
When I first went to see legendary golf instructor Jim Flick, I probably needed a golf lesson. That wasn’t why I scheduled a time with him and then flew from Chicago to Phoenix to keep it, but the best and easiest way to get a meeting was to book a lesson. Two for one!
As most good instructors do when they first meet a student, he asked me questions, including, ‘What do you do? What other sports do you play?’
Those had the same answer because I had been teaching tennis professionally for several years.
“Ah,” he said, “so you’re a coach.” And he called me Coach almost exclusively from then on. (Many years later, Tom Lehman told me Mr. Flick called everybody Coach, including him!)
Knowing I was a teacher, Mr. Flick told me this true story. A student had come to him to get his game “fixed.” He began by listing all the great teachers he had been to, then said, “None of them could teach me what I need to know. Can you teach me?”
Mr. Flick replied, “In more than thirty years of doing this for a living, I think it’s been proved that I can teach. The question is, can you learn?”
He said the fellow threw his clubs down and then, without another word, turned and walked away.
That story came to me the other day when I poured hot coffee into a cold travel mug, making the coffee I drank lukewarm.
Many Christians think of the church in Laodicea when they hear the word lukewarm because they were famously reprimanded (see Revelation 3:15) for being “neither hot nor cold.” Fewer know the verse above.
It made me wonder how I have received the teachings of those who have labored to help me grow. Like the fellow who threw down his clubs, I perhaps have blamed my teachers for my failures rather than their student.
To avoid being lukewarm, make sure you are a receptive vessel.
May the golf lessons poured into you put heat in your game, and may the words of truth put fire in your soul.
Prayer: Father, may we receive the teachings you send us with open hearts and minds for your glory.
In Jesus’ name, Amen