I am currently reading A Contrarian's Guide to Knowing God, Spirituality for the Rest of Us by Larry Osborne. In the chapter entitled, "The Case for Meandering," Larry writes, "Have you ever noticed that most of our programs and models for spiritual development follow a strict linear pattern?...Yet, if we stop and look back at our own spiritual journey, few of us will find anything close to a neatly laid out linear path. For most of us, the road to spiritual growth and maturity is more like a meandering path punctuated by occasional stretches of unexpected twists and turns...In reality, most spiritual growth happens on a haphazard need-to-grow or need-to-know basis. As life happens, we're suddenly confronted with the need for personal growth or more biblical information in an area of life that up to now hasn't seemed all that important."
I certainly echo Larry's observation. While it has been good to be in Bible studies that have given me some foundation of understanding who God is and what He has done and what He expects of His children, most of my spiritual growth has come during those need-to-grow and need-to-know times when what I thought was true about myself or God was challenged by the messy-ness of life. It was in those seasons I was able to move from a strictly cognitive understanding of God's truth to an experiential understanding of God's truth.
Those who know me have heard me tell of those class notes from Multnomah School of the Bible (the finest Bible college in the world) at the top of which I had scrawled, "Damned through Multnomah School of the Bible." Those were the days when what I was "learning" was simply information. I had no way to really tell if or when I might need to know that information. But in the ensuing years, as I've walked with God, it has been half-remembered class notes and, much more often, brothers and sisters in Christ, who have pointed me to the truth I needed to know and live during those seasons of having what I thought I knew challenged by the daily-ness of life.
If you've been a Christian longer than about a week you already know that there is no FastTrak® pass or Express Lane to get you to maturity. It is a "long obedience in the same direction."
3 comments:
I would also add that, since our eternity has been paid for, this life is much more about the process than any particular destination. It is much more the fact that we are walking with God and in loving fellowship with other believers than it is that we actually arrive at any particular spiritual place.
I believe destination is important even though it can't be reached in the time we have in this life. That said, the ports along the way may not bad places to visit for awhile before carrying on. The end destination is our perfection (otherwise known as the image of Christ)which is the most important goal, in that we keep our eyes focused on the destination (Him), all the detours we take on the way due to faulty navigation, storms negligence, etc, will not prevent success on our long term journey. Once Peter brought his eyes back on Jesus, the waves did not frighten him or hinder his progress towards Him. The key is to learn to constantly and habitually keep our eyes trained on him no matter what happens.
that means look at Him, hear his voice, obey and speak to him constantly over the roar of the waves or when the water is like glass.
Hey Paul,
Just thought with email (2 addresses for you), phone, Facebook messaging, and personal contact at least once a week, I'd utilize a 6th means of communication with you. So, hello via your blog.
By the way, your blog asked me to tell you that it misses you and hopes you write soon.
Tim
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