When Jesus invited people to follow him, he never led them to a library.
I watch the society of various birds from my study window. How the robins bicker over territory and the geese in formation and the blackbirds swarm. A true ornithologist cannot sit in a library and read books all day. She must go out into the woods and fields and observe and note and think.
Yet, how many Christians think that following Jesus can be done from a library filled with books or at a conference room table discussing books? How many theologians spend too much time in the library and not enough time with God?
Jesus took his followers out amongst people. And he taught his new message. And healed. And advised. And ate and drank with a variety of people. And associated not only with his own kind—Jewish males—but with Romans and women and Samaritans and Syrians and common people.
Study is a spiritual discipline. But so is service. And worship. Getting out from the library and meeting people.
Faith Venture 
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