Ye Who Are Spiritual

Ye Who Are Spiritual

A generation ago many people added a new word to their vocabulary. The word itself was not new, but their acquaintance with and use of it was. It was the word "spiritual." Prior to the 1960s preachers and devout Christians knew about spirituality and talked about it. But it was an unknown expression to worldlings. With the advent of the New Age religious movement multitudes began to imagine themselves to be "spiritual." As they use the word, it means "a longing for something beyond the mere material." It is a recognition that "spirit is the prime element of reality" (Webster).

When the Bible speaks of being spiritual it is a different matter. To be a faithful Christian is to be spiritual. It is to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:30). It is to deny yourself and take up your cross and follow Christ (Matt. 16:24). It means to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness (Matt. 6:33). It means to be obedient to Christ in all things (John 14:15), to live by the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:25) and to be led by the Spirit(Rom. 8:14).   Spirituality involves every aspect of the Christian's life. We are to be sanctified wholly, body, soul and spirit (I Thess. 5:23).   It involves loving your neighbor as yourself (Matt 22:37) and treating him as you wish to be treated (Matt. 7:12). We can distinguish the spiritual man by the love he demonstrates toward his fellow-Christian and others (John 13:34-35). Spirituality describes a wholesome relationship between a godly person and Jehovah God.

There are in the human heart two contending forces. There is that which desires to have fellowship with the Creator and to please him in all things. There is that which loves the sinful pleasures of the world (Rom. 7:22) and is resentful of God, or at least cares little for Him.   Christians renounce the lusts of the world and actively pursue a meaningful walk with God. They are spiritual people in the Biblical sense of the world. Others love the world and the things of the world (I John 2:15). The very idea of being spiritual is boring, even repulsive, to such people. Their deepest joys are found in indulging themselves. For some, that means strong drink, drugs, partying, sexual indulgence, gambling and such like. For others it can mean immersing themselves in philosophy, the search for worldly wisdom and knowledge, science, art, music or poetry. For still others it can be the quest for power, wealth and material possessions. For others it might be a life of adventure, or the out of doors, hiking, hunting, fishing or exploration. For yet others it is a life consumed with sports, whether to play them or to watch others do so.

Between these two extremes are two others types of people who seek spiritually. There is the worldly sinner who wants spirituality without having to give up his worldly pleasures. He finds what he desires in New Age religion. Rather than worship Jehovah who made him and has given a law for him to observe, he prefers to worship nature, art, music or literature. He looks up at the spangled heavens and imagines some force there in the sun, moon or stars and selects that to be his god (Rom. 1:25). He gazes at a crystal, or sits in solitude on some isolated mountain and imagines that the eagle's scream or the murmur of the wind is some spirit talking with him. He congratulates himself that he is now spiritual. When his emotions are stirred to the very depths of his soul he might even imagine that he himself is god.

Then there is the person who says he believes in God and follows Christ, but he is unsatisfied with the spiritual paths revealed in the Bible. He needs and wants more to satisfy his jaded spiritual appetite. He craves subjective experiences that will tingle his soul. He sees his New Age neighbor trek off to the mountain or sit in a candle-lite room and he yearns to do the same. He wants mystery and mysticism with his religion. He would like to experiment with self-hypnosis and mind-altering activities.   Not ready to deny Christ and cast off the religion he professes, he looks for a church or a preacher who will meld together New Ageism and Christianity. He finds it in the Emergent Church movement that is now found in virtually all evangelical bodies including a scattered few among our brethren. In this we see the poverty of postmodern spirituality. It is more pagan than Christian, more contrived than real.

Let no man deceive you: Loving God with all your heart and soul, learning and doing his will, drawing close to him in worship and prayer, faithful service in his kingdom, this is being spiritual.   Spirituality is not a technique to be mastered; it is a genuine response to God. His love shed abroad in our hearts will lead us to true spirituality (Rom. 5:5). If we draw nigh unto him he will draw nigh unto us (Jas. 4:8).

Sincerely,

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