Excerpts from Subversive Spirituality by Eugene Peterson
We do not progress in the Christian life by becoming more competent, more knowledgeable, more virtuous, or more energetic. We do not advance in the Christian life by acquiring expertise. Each day, and many times each day, we return to Square One: God Said. We are constantly being ‘thrown back on the start and always opening up afresh.’ We are always beginners. We begin again. We hear Jesus say, ‘Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven’ (Matt 18: 3). And so we become as little children. We….go back to Square One. We adore and we listen.
I want to simplify your lives. When others are telling you to read more, I want to tell you to read less; when others are telling you to do more, I want to tell you to do less. The world does not need more of you; it needs more of God. Your friends do not need more of you; they need more of God. And you don’t need more of you; you need more of God.
The Christian life consists in what God does for us, not what we do for God; the Christian life consists in what God says to us not what we say about God. We also, of course, do things and say things; but if we do not return to Square One each time we act, each time we speak, beginning from God and God’s Word, we will soon be found to be practicing a spirituality that has little or nothing to do with God. And so it is necessary, if we are going to truly live a Christian life, and not just use the word Christian to disguise our narcissistic and promethean attempts at spirituality without worshiping God and without being addressed by God, it is necessary to return to Square One and adore God and listen to God. Given our sin-damaged memories that render us vulnerable to every latest edition of journalistic spirituality, daily re-orientation in the truth revealed in Jesus and attested in Scripture is required. And given our ancient predisposition for reducing every scrap of divine revelation that we come across into a piece of moral/spiritual technology we can use to get on in the world, and eventually to get on without God, a daily return to a condition of not-knowing and non-achievement is required. We have proven time and time again that we are not to be trusted in these matters. We need to return to Square One for a fresh start as often as every morning, noon, and night.
(pp 30-31)