Two teachers; Two Learners; Two kinds of pain

Bella Rose, Barron Olaf's elder by 14 months is making the adjustment well to the intrusion of her space.

I've enjoyed being challenged by Wayne Cordeiro's book Divine Mentor. It has prompted me to do an indepth study of a wise man versus a foolish man and the ramifications. Herewith, the next few posts.

Life provides us two effective teachers: Wisdom or Consequences. Our choice of teacher determines the kind of person we are. A prudent wise person chooses the teacher “wisdom,” the foolish simpleton selects the teacher “consequences.” As these two kinds of people embrace two kinds of teachings they experience two kinds of pain. The wise prudent practices the pain of self discipline to gain wisdom. Wisdom has an initial price – discipline, obedience, consistency and time. Wisdom learns from the experiences of others, beyond their lifetime and beyond their own experiences.



The primary source for wisdom garnered from others is the Bible – viewing the successes and failures of Biblical characters along with following Biblical guidelines that lead to successful living and dying. The whole Bible was given to us by inspiration from God and is useful to teach us what is true. It shows us what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out. It helps us do what is right. It is God’s way of making us well prepared at every point fully equipped to do good to everyone. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 LB


On the other hand, the foolish simpleton avoids the pain of discipline and embraces the pain of regret learning only from consequnces. Rather than experiencing the initial pain of self discipline, the pain is an after-effect occurrence As some would say, “learning the hard way.” The result can produce real suffering and acute pain.


The pain of self discipline to learn from the “wisdom teacher” or the pain of regret which results from learning from the teacher “consequences.” Our choise – moment by moment.

We'll pursue the topic more in tomorrow's post.