“Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge” (Proverbs 23:12).
Just as sitting in a henhouse will not make you a chicken, hearing instruction from a learned teacher will not make you wise. If everything you hear “goes in one ear and out the other” without anything being retained in transit, it has been a complete waste of time and breath (see Monday’s blog).
For wise instruction from a teacher to result in valuable knowledge for a student, diligent effort has to be made by the pupil. Learning does not occur automatically. Attention and application by the student are essential.
Those who desire to be wise must apply their ears to hearing and their hearts/minds to learning.
No wonder “He who has an ear to hear, let him hear” is Jesus’ most frequently recorded exhortation in the New Testament!
