The "Scarcity" of Truth
Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler are the authors of the book, Abundance: Why the Future Will Be Much Better Than You Think. When discussing the accelerating rate of technological change, they state that "few resources are truly scarce; they're mainly inaccessible.” Think about this in the light of God’s infinite and limitless Word. Why is there a scarcity of understanding of this valuable resource in the lives of so many people? I believe one reason is because we've created an environment of scarcity.
Diamandis and Kotler elaborate on this idea here and mention how “Scarcity is contextual”.
"History's littered with tales of once rare resources made plentiful by innovation. The reason is pretty straightforward: scarcity is often contextual. Imagine a giant orange tree packed with fruit. If I pluck all the oranges from the lower branches, I am effectively out of accessible fruit. From my limited perspective, oranges are now scarce. But once someone invents a piece of technology called a ladder, I've suddenly got new reach. Problem solved. Technology is a resource liberating mechanism. It can make the once scarce the now abundant."
I think that example sums up our culture of Biblical education in the church. We serve people the fruit from the lower branches and never help them reach for more. Our leaders, pastors, and teachers need to be the "ladder" to lead people into a greater abundance of learning. We need to change the culture, be innovative, and make the abundance of the Word accessible for all believers. The Holy Spirit will use willing vessels to inspire others, build new paradigms, and open up new possibilities instead of continuing in the same old models of scarcity. I have lots of thoughts on how to do that, but I’ll save that for another time.