Eugene Peterson on Spiritual Formation

I just listened to a great message by Eugene Peterson entitled, "Why Spiritual Formation Is Not An Option".

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life". The Jesus way, wedded to the Jesus truth produces the Jesus life. We can't proclaim the Jesus truth and do it in any old way we like. Jesus as the way may be the most frequently evaded metaphor in the Christian life. Jesus as the truth gets far more attention in our circles of teaching and worship. A major concern... involves attentivenesss and guidance into the Jesus way. The Jesus way is always and everywhere incarnational, which in plain language means local and ordinary, place and time. Everything we say and do as Christians takes place in the neighborhood and with personal relationships, work place, familiy. It is not enough to speak the truth of Jesus or motivate people to do Jesus things. We have to both speak the truth and motivate the actions in the Jesus way, the way Jesus did it, the way Jesus said it... Is the Christian life LIVED?

People are fed up with leaders and friends who talk learnedly and officially about God, but show little evidence of being interested in God. And people are fed up with leaders and friends who are full of advice and instruction, telling us how we should behave, but show little evidence of being interested in us. Their ideas about the truth of God don't seem to be connected to any relationship with God. Their ideas about how we should behave don't seem to have much to do with any concern about us.

Lord, help me to live the Jesus way, locally and ordinarily to the glory of God.