Learning & Living


 I've taught a lot about the pattern for spiritual growth which is learning and living. We need both to grow and to know God. We can't learn without then experiencing what we have learned. We also cannot have an experience without then learning about the God who has led us to that experience. A relationship is what we're really talking about.

I was thinking this morning about the day of Pentecost. That amazing experience was followed by Peter teaching the people who gathered there. The experience led the people to ask "What must we do?" In other words, they wanted to know more. Experience leads to a desire for learning and knowing. And learning is empty if we do not then seek to personally experience what we have learned.

Abraham stood and looked up at the stars and learned about God and His promises. Then Abraham experienced God's promise and His faithfulness as he lived through the trials to come. The Holy Spirit teaches us so that we may experience God in a personal and intimate way.

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