Week of May 23 2010

  • Pastor Duane Cross
  • May 24, 2010

PATHWAYS

In a wonderful book by Bill Hybels, Courageous Leadership, the author describes 7 different pathways through which people learn and connect with God.  In the next few weeks, I would like to share them with you.  Sacred pathways are like doors that open into a room where we can feel particularly close to God.  We all have different personalities and spiritual gifts, maybe in understanding your pathway to God; you will be able to revitalize your own walk with God.

THE INTELLECTUAL PATHWAY

People who thrive on the intellectual pathway are those whose minds must be fully engaged before they can make significant spiritual progress.  When these folks sit in testimonial services where people are passionately describing God’s amazing activity in their lives, they find themselves thinking, Where’s the beef?  These heart-warming stories are all well and good, but where’s the substance?  Where’s the theological data?  I need something to chew on.  I’m dying here!

These people can’t have their morning devotions without two or three opened commentaries flanking their Bibles.  They carry several intellectually stretching books with them wherever they go.  They gravitate toward classes, seminars, and special events that will challenge their thinking.  Why?  Because they know that their hearts will never fully engage until their minds are filled with truth.

But when that happens, there is no stopping these folks!  When Martin Luther realized the truth of the gospel, when John Calvin grasped the doctrine of the sovereignty of God, when Chuck Colson fully comprehended the intellectual supremacy of a Christian worldview—nothing stopped them.

For people wired up this way, once their minds are fully convinced, their hearts and will quickly follow and their convictions are rock solid.  I think it is quite possible that the apostle Paul had an intellectual pathway.  For him, the transformation of the world depended on the “renewing of our minds” (Romans 12:2).  Paul was quick to appeal to the rational side of human nature, apparently convinced that once a person’s mind belonged to God, everything else would follow.  Win the intellectual argument, and it would be game, set, match.  Victory!

I’ve met many leaders who feel guilty about their intellectual proclivities.  They don’t want anybody knowing that they sneak peeks at the deep stuff once in a while.  They feel “unleaderly” if they spend too much time in research and study.  The truth of the matter is that if they don’t keep their minds challenged, they will probably dry up spiritually.

Teacher and author Lee Strobel comes to mind when I think of a leader with an intellectual pathway.  He researched Christianity for two solid years before he could bow the knee to Christ.  His mind needed to be convinced before he could open his heart.  Now, years after his conversion, he reads theology, archaeology, philosophy, and history recreationally.  It feeds his soul.

When Lee worked on my staff, he would burst into my office bubbling over with enthusiasm because some archaeologist somewhere in the Middle East had made a discovery that Lee thought would force every skeptic to his knees.  “The evidence is over whelming!” he’d shout.  “How can anybody with a brain believe otherwise?”

I’d just smile.

But I think the day Lee stops stretching himself intellectually will be the day his spiritual life begins to fade.  That’s what the intellectual pathway is all about.

If you have an intellectual orientation like Lee, stop apologizing for it and start developing a spiritual formation plan that focuses on the development of your mind.  Love God with all your mind and watch what happens to your daily union with Him.

Sincerely,

 Duane's Photo-Signature

Pastor Duane

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