I come across a lot of people who can quote scripture back to front and know all the historical knowledge there is to know about the days of when the Bible was written. But the unfortunate thing I have found about some of these people is that I don’t get a sense of genuine love or feel for the Holy Spirit in anything they say. I reckon that your average person is not going to care too much about information although it is important. What they may want to know is does what you say have a reflection on your life? If we’re not careful we can be a bit too clever for our own good and miss the point of what it’s all about which is Gods love and grace.
Sometimes our brain/intellect can actually hold us back from seeing His amazing wonders and what He has already done for us!
Nicodemus struggled with this same problem with his first coffee, cake and chat with Jesus in John 3. Nicodemus was a teacher of Israel but (at this point) was not a man of the Spirit so then is confused and asks Jesus “How can these things be?” Jesus answers him by saying, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?” Jesus later on has a joke with good old Nico by saying “mate these are simple earthly basic fundamental things I am talking to you about, you’re not ready yet for the heavenly things.
I love the story when Jesus asks Peter who he thinks that He is. When Peter responds by saying that he sees Jesus as the Christ, Jesus’ response is to say to Peter “Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you”, dare I (me) say the Bible alone didn’t show you this i.e. it was the Spirit that was able to open up Peters eyes to see for himself.
I’m not knocking studying the Bible etc. But God wants us to have a relationship with him. A lot of times we can fall into the trap of using the Bible or a pastor as almost like a mutual friend between us and God. You might first meet your partner through a mutual friend but at some point in order to really get to know each other you have to go on a date with just the two of you. (The pastor is probably the last person you want there).
