The more I learn about God, the more I realize I do not know.

 Good morning,

I pray the day finds you well.

It was raining today when I got up. I actually enjoy the rain as much as I enjoy the sun. I do however enjoy fall as my favorite season, the colors, hot days but cool nights. The woods seem more alive somehow. I see salmon swimming upstream when I take my walks by the river. 

My walks give me time to think, they give me pause. 

This morning I was ruminating on something Richard Foster wrote twelve years ago. I had been thinking of "chaos" and why people are the way they are. I teach  a worldviews class for a university and I have an understanding of differing worldviews. I know that they think differently (thus the "different" in our worldviews). When I give instruction on Christian Theism I talk about what a "Life with God" looks like.

I am also a Spiritual Director. 

When people come to me for a Spiritual Direction Experience (which by the way is different than Discipleship, although there is an aspect of this in Spiritual Direction) I direct them in ways of having a better relationship with God.

Anyway, I was ruminating on Foster this morning. 

Foster said:

The source of the problem is rooted in the two most common objectives people have for studying the Bible.  The first is the practice of studying the Bible for information or knowledge alone.  This may include information about particular facts or historical events, or knowledge of general truths or doctrines, or even knowledge of how others are mistaken in their religious views, beliefs, and practices.[1]

He went on to say:

The second common objective people often have for studying the Bible is to find some formula that will solve the pressing need of the moment.  Thus we seek out lists of specific passages that speak to particular needs rather than seeking whole-life discipleship to Jesus.[2]

And he finished with this:

If we want to receive from the Bible the life “with God” that is portrayed in the Bible, we must be prepared to have our dearest and most fundamental assumptions about ourselves and our associations called into question.  We must humbly and in a constant attitude of repentance.[3]

So often I have conversations with people that seem to think they have it all figured out. When the beginning began, when the end will come. How they are right and others are wrong.

The more I learn about God, the  more I realize I do not know. 

I focus on my relationship with Him, and how that is going. I do not focus on others and how theirs is not going. 

How about we all try to focus on our relationship with God, come to Him in humble humility and let Him guide us and comfort us, allowing us to then help others and love on them.

Something to ponder.

Blessings,

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[1]Richard Foster, Life With God. (San Francisco: HarperCollins Publishing Company, 2008), 4.

[2]Richard Foster, Life With God. (San Francisco: HarperCollins Publishing Company, 2008), 5.

[3]Richard Foster, Life With God. (San Francisco: HarperCollins Publishing Company, 2008), 5.