To Timothy, My true
child in the faith… (Holy Bible: New American Standard Bible, 1 Timothy
1:2)
Samuel [the Prophet]
said to Saul, “You have acted foolishly… now your kingdom shall not endure…”
(Idib. 1 Samuel 13:13-14)
Nathan [the Prophet]
then said to David … “Why have you despised the word of the Lord… Now
therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house…” (Ibid. 2 Samuel
12:7-10)
Spiritual
Friendship and Spiritual Guidance are similar in ways, because both rely on a
relationship between two people and are tools for spiritual growth. Hierarchy can be a tricky topic when it
relates to these relationships. In the
broad sense, there is more of a hierarchical structure in Spiritual Guidance,
however, I feel this can be best explained using a ladder. Imagine a ladder that is flat on the ground,
you can see that the third rung is farther from the start than the first rung,
but since the ladder is flat on the ground, the third is no higher than the
first (Spiritual Direction and the Care of Souls, Kindle
Location 1088) . As I understand it, Spiritual Formation is
similar to this flat ladder. There are
people who have had more time and opportunity to move up the rungs of the
ladder and are therefore farther along; however, not higher, the way a regional
manager is over a store manager, who is over a department manager and so forth.
What makes
for a good spiritual guide? Let me tell
you about two spiritual leaders that I have personally encountered. The first was not a mentor and the second
was. I don’t know if the first loved his
neighbor as he loved himself; however, I saw the second love his neighbor as he
loved himself. The first once mistakenly
said the Babylonian captivity lasted 80 years and when I pointed out that it
was 70 years, he was gruff and abrasive that I would correct him. The second once confused the words
dispensationalism and cessationism, but was accepting and grateful to be
corrected.
Remember
the episode where a Pharisee invited Jesus to dinner (Luke 7:36-50), and a
woman with the reputation of being a sinner made her way to the dinner
also. There she wept on Jesus’ feet and
dried them with her hair. This made the
Pharisee doubt Jesus’ holiness because He accepted the sinful woman. Jesus then told the story of a money lender
and two debtors, both of whom were unable to repay their debts. In the story, the money lender forgave both
debts, then Jesus asked the Pharisee, “which will then love the money lender
more?” The Pharisee was right to point
out the one that was forgiven the greater debt.
Jesus used that to illustrate the relationship between grace and a
person being changed.
That
change, the kind brought about by God’s love and His grace, as opposed to a
change brought by a higher religiosity, is vital in a Spiritual Guide. Because, they have be changed by God and by
themselves.
Written by Pastor Ozzy
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Works Cited
1995. Holy Bible: New American Standard Bible.
LaHabra: The Lockman Foundation.
Moon, Gary W., and David G. Benner. 2004. Spiritual
Direction and the Care of Souls. Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity
Press.
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