Thursday, September 24, 2026
Good morning from Colorado! We’ve spent the first part of this week talking about being willing to learn, recognizing that teachers don’t always look like teachers, and understanding how our own experiences can sometimes prevent us from seeing something new. Today, I want to take this conversation somewhere a little more uncomfortable.
What happens when the person who has something to teach us is someone we don’t particularly like?
Now, that’s a question worth sitting with.
It’s easy to listen when we admire someone. We tend to give their words more weight because we already respect the person speaking. But what happens when the message comes from someone who gets on our last nerve? What happens when we don’t agree with their personality, their choices, their background, or the way they communicate?
Do we automatically throw away the message because we don’t like the messenger?
I’ve had to learn that those are two different things.
A person can have flaws and still say something worth hearing. They can have made mistakes and still have learned something valuable from those mistakes. They can even tell us something we desperately need to hear while having absolutely no idea that their words are reaching a place in us that needs attention.
That doesn’t mean we accept everything they say. Discernment still matters. We should think, pray, question, and determine whether something is true before we make it part of our lives.
But discernment requires us to listen first.
Dismissal doesn’t.
Dismissal decides before the conversation has even begun.
I think we sometimes forget that people don’t have to be perfect to teach us something. In fact, some of the most valuable lessons can come from people whose lives show us both what to do and what not to do.
We can learn from someone’s wisdom without adopting their entire way of living.
We can appreciate someone’s experience without agreeing with every decision they’ve made.
We can receive a useful piece of information without handing that person authority over our lives.
That requires maturity.
It also requires humility because sometimes the person we least expect to teach us will say the very thing we need to hear.
And if we’re honest, sometimes what bothers us about the messenger has nothing to do with the message. We may be uncomfortable because the message challenges us. We may not want to admit that someone else saw something we missed. We may even reject good advice simply because accepting it would require us to change.
That’s when we have to check ourselves.
I don’t want my feelings about a person to become so loud that I can’t hear what God may be allowing me to learn through the encounter.
Because God has never needed my permission to use an ordinary moment for an extraordinary purpose.
He can use a conversation.
He can use a stranger.
He can use a child.
He can use a mistake.
He can use a disappointment.
And yes, He can use someone I don’t particularly care for.
The question is whether I’m mature enough to separate the lesson from my feelings about the person delivering it.
That’s not always easy.
But perhaps spiritual maturity isn’t just knowing God’s Word. Perhaps it’s also learning how to recognize when God is using something in our everyday lives to get our attention.
Sometimes the lesson won’t arrive wrapped in the package we would have chosen.
Sometimes it won’t come from the person we would have invited into the room.
And sometimes the very person we wanted to dismiss may have said something that God wanted us to hear.
So before we reject the lesson, perhaps we should pause.
Listen.
Pray.
Think.
Then decide.
Because we can walk away from a person without walking away from the wisdom we gained from the encounter.
And maybe that’s the real lesson for today:
Don’t let your opinion of the teacher cause you to miss what you’re being taught.
I’ll see you tomorrow for another 15 Minutes with God.
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