Spiritual Formation Test

In my last post I shared results from the personality test that Tony Morgan originally pointed me to. I wonder what a Spiritual Formation Test would look like.

Would it have questions like:

1. You can name the books of the Bible

2. You can name the authors each book of the Bible.

3. You have a good grasp of the context of each book of the Bible including why it was written and for whom it was intended.

4. You own at least three commentaries.

5. You have taken a Greek and Hebrew class.

6. You passed Greek and Hebrew with flying colors.

7. You own software that includes thousands of volumes of books and you have more books than you have shelving space.

8. You often teach to crowds in excess of 10 people

9. You teach to crowds in excess of 100 people

10 You teach to crowds in excess of 1000 people.

11. You have a PhD.

12. You have been mistaken for Jesus.

I’m reading Brennan Manning’s “the furious longing of God” and he quotes Gerald May,

“The entire process (of self-development) can be very exciting and entertaining. But the problem is there’s no end to it. The fantasy is that if one heads in the right direction and just works hard enough to learn new things and grows enough and gets actualized, one will be there. None of us is quite certain exactly where there is, but it obviously has something to do with resting.”

Brennan goes on to lament all of the feeble attempts he has made and all of the time he has put into having the

“delusion that I was securely ensconced in the seventh mansion of spiritual perfection.

What would I actually do if I had it to do all over again? Heeding John’s counsel, I would simply do the next thing in love.”

Once again, I believe that while the Church must continually discover new lands in the world of what it means to follow Jesus it must, even more intensely, do what it already knows that it should do. While Kay Arthur and Beth Moore studies are tremendous teachers, and Serendipity Bible studies are great resources if all we did was learn then we have serious problems.

I think Brennan says something very profound. The real test of Spiritual Formation is whether or not we ar edoing what we are doing in love. If we do it for the love of ourselves it is good. If we do it for the love of others it is better. However, if we do it for the love of God that is the best of all.

Whether we study or dig a well the highest and greatest measure of how we are doing is determined by for whom we do it, and not how many or how much.