Do you ever read something and feel like the author is talking right to you? I think this quote does a great job of telling me something that I really needed to hear. Maybe it will do the same for you,
“Many of us have reached a place where we have acquired a lot of knowledge and know-how and we accomplished much, but we know something is missing. We are desperate to find our way back to some sort of intimacy with God that feeds our own souls. We long to receive a word from God that is spoken to our own hearts alone rather than being meant for public consumption. It takes practice to become conversant in the language of the soul.” – Ruth Barton in Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership, 17-18
The reason these words spoke so clearly to me today is that through ministry and blogging so much of my thoughts get told to someone else. It is easy to start thinking that all of your thoughts are something special or that we are “all that” when the reality is, we aren’t. So much of my study is geared toward resulting in something public, something spoken, something that makes it into print that other eyes read or ears hear. It is easy to get caught up in that. It is important that we strengthen our own personal relationship with God and realize that first and foremost our private world comes before our public world.
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I appreciate you candidness. (is that a word?)
Many of us (me) get in trouble when we teach what we don’t know. It happens…
Love and appreciate you bro’,
Royce
I think there are two problems here. One is when we teach things we really don’t understand ourselves or don’t live out ourselves. Second is when we teach out of personal emptiness. We may know it well and even live out the letter of the law on something we teach but our hearts aren’t there.