Becoming Your Destiny
“Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:29
Learn – The Greeks were famous for their tragic plays. Many of these productions underlie contemporary films and stories. They had a way of capturing the deepest issues of human existence.
Greek tragedy uses this word, manthano, in a way that gives us another insight into its meaning. Manthano is an attitude that shows itself in the desire of men to live in harmony with the whole. Not much has changed for men in 2500 years of attitude development. We still long for peaceful harmony with our world. For the Greeks, this harmonious attitude was the goal of a long process of education and experience. Manthano is that insight into life that reveals to us our finiteness and limitations. We discover our symbiotic need for the rest of the world. We are awakened to our dependence. The Greeks unraveled the problem, but they did not have the answer.
The Greeks taught us that learning is a process of becoming. As long as we learn, we change. But the Greeks could never give us a practical goal for this becoming. Their vision of learning was esoteric. They looked for the answer in a world of ideals that did not have feet on the ground.
It took the Hebrew understanding of learning to give us traction.
The Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament also uses the word manthano. It is usually the translation of lamad. The idea behind learning in Hebrew thought is very practical. It is the intentional submission of the will in obedience to God. It is an attitude that desires to please the Lord in every action. In the Old Testament, this attitude is described in the most practical of terms: walking. More than anything else, lamad is knowing what is right and doing it. For the Hebrew, there is no esoteric and mysterious realm entered in by sophisticated knowledge and secret information. There is only simple obedience. The goal of all learning is alignment with the will of the Father. To graduate from God’s university of learning is to hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
What do you want to know? Are you seeking a certificate of education or the commendation of the Master?
