Finally, be willing to admit that you don’t know everything. This should go without saying; but many people simply assume that what they believe right now is 100 percent correct, so they don’t need to change their mind about anything. This, of course, is a narrow-minded approach that does nothing but stifle growth toward maturity.
The Bible seems to indicate that we should always be learning and growing toward maturity (for example, see Ephesians 2:13-16; and Hebrews 5:11-6:2). But in order to learn and grow, we need to be willing to admit that we may be wrong about some of our beliefs. Even if we think we have the Bible on our side, we must be willing to admit that we may have an incomplete or imperfect understanding of the Bible. If we admit that we don’t know everything, we will be motivated to listen at least as much as we talk; and keeping an open mind in this way is sure to reduce conflict in our conversations with others.
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