In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Steve Carter, Lead Teaching Pastor at Willow Creek Community Church, has stumbled upon a weakness of the spiritual formation of many who would be Jesus Followers.
The third person of their trinity is not Holy Spirit. It is Holy Bible.
They read the words. Often seeking verses that sound good. Looking for people who also believe what they believe about the words.
Or, they study to the minutest detail. Reading thick books with lots of footnotes. They know more and more about less and less…until they know everything about nothing as the old joke goes about Ph.D.s.
Or, you can read books like Bob Goff’s “Everything Always” that I referenced yesterday.
A scholar can explore the various meanings of the rabbinic traditions, the Hebrew and the Greek, look at the grammar, tease out previously unwritten meanings of the second command–“And the second is like it, to love your neighbor as yourself.” Or the injunction at the end of the beatitudes where Jesus says that the person who hears his words and does them is a wise man.
Goff is a challenge. He not only treats people well, he becomes a friend. He’s not only filled with the spirit, he spreads it around.
Faith Venture 
Leave a Reply