The Unlearning

“Whatever gain I had, I count as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord" (Philippians 3:7).

I thought I would spend the first half of life acquiring knowledge and the rest of life salting it away, but I find that much of what I spent a life-time and a lot of money learning is slipping away. I reach for a thought and it eludes me. It’s disconcerting.

But I find great encouragement in Ter Steegan’s poem:

To learn, and yet to learn, whilst life goes by, 

So pass the student's days;  

And thus be great, and do great things, and die,  

And lie embalmed with praise.  

My work is but to lose and to forget,  

Thus small, despised to be;  

All to unlearn—this task before me set;  

Unlearn all else but Thee. 

—Gerhard Ter Steegen (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_Tersteegen).

David Roper

2.2.17