Are there challenges in your leadership that indicate an unteachable spirit? (81-1)
There is hope for every leader with a teachable nature and little hope for any leader that has a self-centered, undisciplined, arrogant, unteachable nature. Read Judges 14-16.
There are several leadership principles we can learn from Samson’s unteachability:
- A teachable godly leader will stay in touch with God, acknowledge that God is their source of wisdom or strength, take advice and seek guidance from others but Samson leaned on his own strength and understanding. Samson repeatedly used brute force and violence to cope with difficulties. When embarrassed at his wedding feast, he killed 30 men; when caught with a prostitute, he ripped apart the city gates of Gaza. He didn’t take advice from his parents or from the people of his city and he certainly didn’t seek guidance from God. Worst of all, Samson did not acknowledge to himself or others that God was the source of his strength.
- A teachable leader learns from their mistakes. They are able to admit mistakes and they profit from them by figuring out “why” things went wrong. They are wise enough to correct them so they don’t happen again. An unteachable leader will repeat the mistake. Samson’s life shows no record of improvement. His leadership stayed in a constant downward spiral repeating the same kind of mistake over and over again.
- A leader “may” react the first time they are surprised by circumstances but thereafter the teachable leader is proactive and leads through the situation rather than just react. An unteachable leader reacts the first time and every time thereafter. Samson reacted when he saw the daughter of Timnah and demanded that they be married. When there were issues at the wedding feast and she ended up married to his best man, he burned down the Philistines fields. Later he reacted to a bad situation and killed 1,000 Philistines. He reacted every time his leadership came under pressure and at his death; he left his people groaning under the oppression of the Philistines.
- A teachable leader will seek God’s guidance and with it can turn a one-time defeat into future victories. An unteachable leader who never seeks God’s wisdom and revelation will consistently be defeated. Samson had great gifts from God but gifts could only go so far when Samson would not seek God’s help for his character flaws. Relying totally on himself with an unrepentant, unteachable spirit led Samson to moral erosion, unchecked sin and ultimately to his destruction.
Samson was given great gifts that were established even before his birth but because of his unteachable spirit, he never achieved the potential God had planted in him.
Are you repeating the same mistake in leadership of your team or family time after time? Are there challenges in your leadership that may be signs of arrogance, self-centeredness or an unteachable spirit? Write a prayer that you will pray each day this week seeking God’s forgiveness and guidance.
