Roadblocks to a God Relationship

A couple of years ago I read Allen and Swick’s “Participating in God’s Life.” Yesterday I had some time and picked the book back up and browsed for over an hour. Listed in chapter 4 were three barriers that can keep us from God’s Fire. Here’s the second roadblock facing the Churches of Christ (as well as other faith communities)

Some of us easily let passion for theological and denominational issues displace passion for Jesus, prayer and life in the Spirit. Kierkegaard, observing this perpetual human tendency in nineteenth-century Denmark, said that if faced with two doors, one marked “Heaven” and the other “Lecture about Heaven,” most would choose the lecture.

Billy Sunday said, “I don’t know anymore about theology than a jackrabbit knows about ping-pong, but I’m on my way to glory.”

Theology’s primary place is to discern and support what the Spirit is doing. It is the gyroscope on the ship of faith, not the engine. Theology helps balance and protect Spirit-quickened life, but it doesn’t bring life. “The Spirit gives life.” (2 Cor. 3:6)