One of our observations through the years is that when people profess Christ as Lord and Savior, and experience the desire to tell God that they want to go wherever He wants them to go, they have no clue what it would be like to simply trust God wherever and through whatever. So they pursue after knowledge of the Bible and how the Christian life should be lived. This sometimes leads them to Bible College, a Bible study, or a ‘fellowship’ group. This often then creates doubts whether God in their life is real as they interact with mature Christians who seem to have a good grasp of the Bible, or Bible teachers who understand Greek and Hebrew. Then they become snared in the ‘people-pleasing’ trap so that the beauty of God’s presence is stolen. They begin reading their Bible in ways that no longer focus on what God is trying to say to them; instead they try to gain knowledge in order to compete with those around them. They imagine that this will earn the respect of others, and if people approved of them, God would do the same. It isn’t really the fault of the study or group they attend, but their own distrust in what God is doing and has done in their life. Let me expand on this from Rick McKinley’s book entitled ‘Jesus in the Margins’, chapter 11: I left the oasis of grace that had saved me to seek after a mirage – the acceptance of those who would be impressed by my knowledge of the Bible. And I did learn the Bible. Soon I could regurgitate all kinds of stuff about the Word and even developed theories on difficult passages. I learned all about ministry and developed a philosophy of ministry that I believed was flawless and would lead to success. And all the while my soul was shrinking.
Now that I was no longer listening for the Spirit, it was up to me to figure out for myself what the Bible meant and how to apply it to my life. As I walked through my day I did not anticipate the presence of the Holy Spirit by my side reminding me of the truth and teaching me how to walk in the way of Jesus… God had taken the form of an academic institution for me and was waiting to see how I would perform and how much I could know about him before he handed out my grade.
This kind of thinking is all too common in the church today. We attend various conferences, trying to learn all we can, thinking that achieving a certain level of Bible knowledge will persuade God to show up in our life. We put our spiritual leaders on a pedestal, thinking they have it all figured out, but knowing that until we can be like them we’re on our own. The tragedy is, we’ve simply forgotten how to experience the daily presence of Jesus. We long for our first days of faith when his Spirit seemed so near, and yet we’ve written off those early experiences as merely the enthusiasm of a new believer. Now that we’re more “mature” in our faith we know to expect less of our God.
That lie cost my heart a lot.
If you haven’t already bought into it, don’t!
Renounce it or simply declare it is a lie. God has promised that he has sent his Spirit to be with us as Counselor-Helper living inside us. He wants you to experience all the power of the gospel.
‘Thinking through the Bible’ provides you with the opportunity to read and think about God’s Story in a way that teaches and reminds you how God is at work, as He always has been from the beginning. And for many it has led to a realization that God’s Spirit is equally as present in their life as in those mature Christians around them!
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