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This same principle applies to spiritual realities. At this very moment, you and I are receiving from the Holy Spirit, not the extent of the Divine Will to give, but our capacity to receive. Longing for God is the yearning to receive not something from God, but more of God God's Self: for, in God, all God gives is God, not merely from God, for no good from the Good can be absent or separate from the Good.
I conclude with a New Testament example of this principle of appropriation, or capacity to make spiritual reality, or God, one's own, as seen in Hebrews 5.11-14 (CJB):
11 We have much to say about this subject, but it is hard to explain, because you have become sluggish in understanding. 12 For although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the very first principles of God's Word all over again! You need milk, not solid food! 13 Anyone who has to drink milk is still a baby, without experience in applying the Word about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties have been trained by continuous exercise to distinguish good from evil.
*"Exercise," in v. 14 is Greek gumnavzo, "to exercise naked (in a palaestra or school of athletics); to exercise vigorously, in any way, either the body or the mind," cf. the English "gymnasium."
Suggested Reflection
1) What "exercise" do you do to increase capacity to appropriate the gifts of the Divine Spirit?
2) Do you believe your church is doing a good job at teaching and encouraging such "exercise"? Explain.
3) Is there one particular spiritual "exercise" that you feel especially drawn to? Explain.
4) Do you enjoy an author who most inspires you to be faithful in your spiritual "exercise"?
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See next page for details on OneLife Ministries, Brian's book An Ache for Union, and material pertaining to sources used in the writing.
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