There are some words that just should not exist don’t you think?  One of those that keeps appearing before me is the word “unlearning” The first time I was conscious of noticing it was when I read The Unlearning Church for a class at seminary. More recently it appeared in Mark Batterson’s book “ In a pit with a lion on a snowy day” and then to cap it all Oswald Chambers devotional this morning……

It is not true to say that God wants to teach us something in our trials. Through every cloud He brings our way, He wants us to unlearn something. His purpose in using the cloud is to simplify our beliefs until our relationship with Him is exactly like that of a child— a relationship simply between God and our own souls, and where other people are but shadows. Until other people become shadows to us, clouds and darkness will be ours every once in a while. Is our relationship with God becoming more simple than it has ever been?

Learning, it seems, should be a positive thing. the way we become equipped to kayak down the complex waterways of life! Learning what to do and what not to do should both help us grow. Progress requires us to learn new things like how to use electronic media but does not require us to unlearn other forms of communication
However tragically this is often not so in our spiritual, moral and ethical lives.. Some learned there is no absolute truth, others that repetitive tragedies rule out the possibility of a loving God. Consequently it would seem are to be effective Christians we must become advocates of the unlearning we have done as well as the learning If we are to give a reason for the hope that is within us (1 Peter 3:15) we must share the importance of unlearning these things and their implications.
Oswald Chambers however stretches us personally, (well me at least!) still further. He challenges us to take seriously the biblical mandate to come to Jesus as a a little child ( Mark 10:15) and seek to reduce the complexity of our relationship with Him. 
So what has God prompted you to unlearn recently and what might He be asking you to unlearn right now?