Spiritual Pathways Part 2

Here are some Spiritual Pathways in addition to the ones we began discussing in yesterday's post, 

Spiritual Pathways Part 1:

1.        The Activist Pathway.  If you are on this pathway, you come alive spiritually when you are engaged in a great cause.  You will have passion to build the church, aggressively reach your community, or work for justice.  Challenges don’t discourage you, they energize you.  Nehemiah is a great example of the activist pathway, as he led the work to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.  You will have to be careful if this is you, however, because activists can sometimes neglect their inner lives and minimize the role of Bible study and prayer for the sake of pursuing causes, or if their love is justice they can lose sight of the call to evangelize.  Their strength is that they are doers who get good things done, and they take seriously the challenge to be doers of the Word and not hearers only: (James 1:22). 

2.       The Contemplative Pathway.  If you prefer the contemplative pathway you love large blocks of uninterrupted time alone.  Reflection comes naturally to you.  You experience God most intensely when there is quiet and solitude, and feel drained and empty if you are too busy or life is too noisy.  The apostle John seems to have been contemplative in his spiritual pathway.  The contemplative’s weakness is to become isolated and inactive in his/her faith, when God calls us to an active role in the Body of Christ.  The strength is that the contemplative will experience great depth in prayer and Scripture meditation.

3.       The Creation Pathway.  Creation types find that they have a passionate ability to connect with God when they are experiencing the world He made.  They find that there is something deeply life-giving and God-inspired about nature.  David experienced much of this when he wrote that The heavens declare the glory of God Psalm 19:1-6).  There is great strength to be found in this pathway, as it highlights the majesty of God.  The weakness is when we lose sight of the fact that God’s greatest creation is the human being (Genesis 1:26-27; Psalm 8). 

We will discuss these and more pathways  in a special Sunday School hour this Sunday, October 20^th. 

After reading so far, what do you think your pathway is?  How does this help you understand yourself?  How does it help you understand others? 

Prayer: Reflecting specifically on this devotional, write out a prayer to God.