A Learned Form

There's more than one way of understanding the act of learning.  Our culture's means of explaining learning is more reminiscent of industrialized nations.  Our kind of learning views knowledge as a sort of stack; the more you learn, the more information is added to the pile.  This learning is focused on the acquisition of information.

For other cultures, learning is seen to have taken place when the learner becomes more morally upstanding; the more you learn, the more you change.  This learning is focused on the acquisition of formation.

The latter was most likely the case in the middle east during the time of Jesus.  We can deduce then, when Jesus talks about seeds and dirt in the parable of the sower, He's referring to how people's identity is changed when exposed to the Word of God.  For some, the devil steals the Word away from them.  For others, the flesh begs to be spared and the Word is lost.  Still others have the Word choked by the lust for the world.

Those who hear the word however, produce more than they ever thought they could.  Simply by hearing.

Information is cold and dead.  It's only good for stocking on piles, and if you read the story of Solomon, you'll find that hoarding is not one of God's favorite practices.

Formation, on the other hand, gives away.  It yields one hundred times the fruit.  When we let God form us, we receive enough to give away, over and over again.  That sounds a lot like justice and restoration.  When we're formed by God, we're given much more than enough for ourselves.  We're given what we need to change everything.

When you learn, does it disturb you?  Does it take you from where you are and put you somewhere else? Many would say that if you are not moved, you are not learned.