When we’re around people who we think are successful, knowledgeable and wise, we can often end up feeling insignificant compared to them. Sometimes that’s to do with our attitude and how we feel about ourselves, other times it’s to do with the way people act towards us. Whatever wise people know, they haven’t always known it - they had to learn and grow too. So we don’t need to feel insignificant or incapable compared to them. We also don’t need to try and make ourselves appear wiser than we really are when we’re around other people. It’s best to be genuine and ask people questions when we don’t understand. It’s okay for us to lack knowledge but what’s not good is an unwillingness to learn and grow. And we can’t grow unless we relate to people who are ahead of us in some way. Joshua learned the principles of good leadership from Moses. Ruth learned how to find the right relationship by listening to Naomi. Learning, and gaining wisdom, is often mentioned in the Bible, especially in Proverbs, which shows it’s an important thing for us to be doing. Proverbs 19:21 says: ‘Listen to advice and accept discipline, and at the end you will be counted among the wise’ (NIV). Sometimes advice and discipline comes from God (take a look at James 1:5) and at other times it comes from people. So we need to be open to learning from people around us. Don’t forget that ‘Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding.’

What now?
Know someone who’s an expert in a subject? Ask them about it and see what you can learn from them. You never know what interesting things you might find out.