“Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.” (1 Peter 2:2-3 NIV)
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is -- His good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2 NIV)
We must try to break out of our culture’s mindset and seek to discover “that good and perfect will of God.” In short, we must somehow get hold of “the pure spiritual milk” of the Word, as opposed to the diluted baby formula that has become the diet prescribed by society. We must escape the tendency to conform to society – even within our most crucial spiritual disciplines.
It seems to me that only a strong doctrine of the Holy Spirit offers us any hope of reading Scripture without being influenced by our culture. There has to be something of a miracle involved in true revelatory Bible reading. And the good news is that such miracles happen. As I read the Scriptures, without the help of commentaries or interpreter’s notes, more times than not, I am conscious of the Spirit’s presence. There is revelation, and in it the Spirit applies what I read to my life. I sense I am “breaking out” of culturally controlled modes of interpretation, even as I sense the “breaking in” of God.
-- Adapted from an article by Tony Campolo (1935-2924) entitled “Getting Out of the World Alive” in Discipleship Journal, No. 86
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