The Importance of Informational Reading for Spiritual Formation

The goal of formational reading is to be mastered by the text. The very thought of being conformed, which clearly implies that we are to be grasped, controlled, and shaped by someone other than ourselves, confronts our deeply ingrained sense of being. Graspers powerfully resist being grasped by God. Controllers are inherently incapable of yielding control to God. Manipulators strongly reject being shaped by God. Information gatherers are structurally closed to being addressed by God. We have extreme difficulty in abiding and waiting patiently, trustingly, perseveringly to be shaped by God according to God's agenda. Genuine spiritual formation reverses our role from being the subject who controls the objects of the world