November 27, 2007

• Seeking true spirituality

  Am reminded today of my great need for humility.  As Gordon Fee puts it,

  “The ultimate aim of exegesis…is to produce in our lives and the lives of others true spirituality, in which God’s people live in faithful fellowship both with one another and with the eternal living God and thus in keeping with God’s own purposes in the world.  In order to do this effectively…true “spirituality” must precede exegesis as well as be the final result of it.  We must begin as we would conclude, standing under the text, not over it, with all of our scholarly arrogance intact.”

  ‘Standing under it’ — as in humility.  There will never be a time and place where I will master the Word of God — know it all.  The goal is not mastery or expertise, it is true spirituality.  The goal of seminary is not a degree, it is true spirituality.  And it is to know better how I might approach His Word, how better to understand, how better to divide the Word of Truth correctly to reveal His heart and His meaning the way He intended — without distortion.

  Looking back to the past, I feel embarrassed and ashamed – and sorry – for the ways I have mishandled His Word.  How appalling to realize that I had not properly considered the literary and historical context of the Scripture and therefore misinterpreted His Word – thinking that every word was written to me – not understanding that it’s not written to me but for me — and therefore resorting to inconsistencies in how I handled the Scriptures as I ignored some parts that made no sense to my plain-text-reading method while inappropriately embracing other texts at face value because it seemed to work in our culture… and then taught and proclaimed it to others.  I am humbled by my lack of understanding.

  And how I pray that this day forward, I could be a better student of the Word — hearkening to historical, literary and cultural context and to the Holy Spirit’s guidance, as I bow before the Lord in my approach to Scripture, with all humility, as one who knows that she knows nothing.  Lord, I long for true spirituality.  Forgive me for my arrogance.

  • 2:02 am
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