Learned from a Book?

When people talk about running, you can tell who runs and who just talks about running. There is an authenticity of experience from those who actually run. When people find out that I am running the Twin Cities marathon this October with my girls (and one son-in-law with strong moral support from the other), they sometimes feel compelled to talk about their running "adventures". Sometimes it is a good point of connection and conversation, but the posers are transparent and probably don't even know it. They may have sen a TV show about the Boston Marathon or may have read an article in a doctor's office waiting room, but they are not runners.

Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with not being a runner. Most of my closest friends are non-runners (that is until my best friend Jeff started running and has been bitten by the bug). Still, many of my friends are non-runners and I am "totally down" with that. They have their own interests and running just doesn't happen to be one of them. What feels so wrong is when non-runners want to make others think that they are runners because runners are so cool (which they are), and fit (which they may be), and attractive (well ... , never mind). Why pretend? Why not just be who you are and call it what it is. Sometimes it feels like people (non-runners) who talk as if they were runners just learned what they know from a book.

Now as you know, I am a bibliophile, so this is not a rant against books (may it never be!). Instead, I am positing that experience gives ground to stand on in a discussion where book learning may not. It is the difference between knowing someone and knowing about someone. I would rather be a runner than simply know about running. And if I had to choose one or the other, I guess I would be just fine with being a runner even if no one ever knew that I was.

Do you ever get that sense when people talk about God? That they just read about Him in a book, but may not have any regular, meaningful interaction with Him? Sometimes I feel that way about myself. Are the things that I affirm about God based on my actual experience or are they simply a modified distillation of something I read in a book? When I say that I believe that God intends ultimate good for His people is it because that is the right answer or because I have come to the place where I can make that affirmation because that is how I live? When I say that I believe that God wants His people to care for the unloved and the unlovely is it because that answer gets a gold star or because I have seen God's power of grace in the midst of serving? And if I am not willing to live what I say I believe, shouldn't I stop saying it? At least until I start living it?

The first century world was rocked by the lives of the early church--to some extent. Where God's people lived like Jesus said, then the surrounding community took notice. What would happen if God's people today did the same thing? If we were distinct--not because of the things we don't do (smoke, chew, or go with girls who do)--but because we actually lived the way that Jesus lived. I wonder what would happen if we lived and talked about God from our experience and not like we just read about Him in a book?

Pressing On!