Spirituality is Not the Sum of Our Beliefs

Hopefully I will be able to make this understandable. The idea I hope to convey is that the things we believe do not necessarily make us more spiritual.  In fact, when we hold too tightly to our beliefs we can appear unkind, inflexible and unloving.  For christians this is especially problematic in that we are to be salt and light in the world.  If I flaunt my beliefs in front of those who do not have the same understanding as I do then I lose an opportunity to share the love of God.  I believe this is one of the main criticisms that non-believers have of believers today.  Instead of being christian bullies we should be more skillful when talking about issues.  Jesus' skillful dispatch of the jewish leaders who tried to trap him concerning the paying of taxes to Caesar is noteworthy.(Matt 22:17-22)  Jesus did not need to share his belief of whether or not it was right to pay taxes and yet his answer was marveled at by those present.

In addition,  I think that we as christians are too easily shocked and offended by things that go on in our world. Again, Jesus' handling of the woman caught in adultery in John 8 is amazing. The penalty for this sin was clear, death. Jesus did not seem shocked or offended by this situation and I am pretty certain he believed adultery was wrong. And yet with great love and mercy he dispatched her accusers.  Since when did love and mercy get replaced with defending our rights as christians. We should act as though we lived in a country where we had no rights.  Then maybe our words and actions would be less abrasive toward those that Christ would have us love.

Spirituality is not.....

Before we get into the meat of spirituality, we should look at some of the misconceptions about spirituality.  You may or may not agree with my conclusions and that's OK. Part of my reasoning for putting these up front is that many of these misconceptions were ones that I had.  Think of this as a placeholder.  I don't expect you to totally agree with them right now, maybe ever. But part of being open spiritually is learning how to be alright with being unsure. It is OK to NOT have all the answers.  I realized that many of the ideas I was experiencing went against what I had believed to be true. When you encounter one of these ideas take a "I don't know" approach instead of immediately rejecting it.  In fact this is the posture I would recommend that you consider taking for the rest of your life. God is certainly able and willing to sort those unknowns out for you, sometimes quickly and sometimes more slowly, but he will not abandon or forsake you in the process.

So the first misconception I would like to explode is: Spirituality is not about being good.  For Bible-believing christians this is a difficult one to overcome.  It was implied that to be a good christian you had to be perfect.  One of the problems in  putting so much faith in the scriptures is that there has been a tendency of turning them into a law book.  The Old Testament was a law book, so surely the New Testament was just an updated version. Jesus himself did not even consider being good as something to hold on to(Matt 10:18). If he was not striving to be good, then we should not either. Quit trying to be a good christian! You can't do it and it is wasted effort to try. The only thing you will achieve if you do manage to be good is an enormous ego. Spirituality is largely about shedding your ego, so if you totally want to be unspiritual, then go ahead and try to be good. If you want to grow spiritually admit that you are a sinner and move on. Our sin actually puts us in a position where we need God. It is only from this position of humility that God can work in our hearts to transform us into something useful to Him.

Intro to Spirituality

Of late I have been interested in the idea of trying to develop some materials that might be helpful for those desiring spiritual growth.  I have especially been interested in spirituality for those from a Bible-believing protestant tradition of which I am a child. Those of us from this tradition have some special challenges that make spiritual growth difficult. The doctrine of the inerrancy of scripture, and our belief that all people can understand the bible in the same way highlight this difficulty. These two foundational ideas are understood by the rational mind, but spirituality is a matter of the heart. Unless one is able create an openness in their heart for the spiritual, then spiritual growth will be stunted. Paul says not to quench the spirit in I Thess 5:19.  Instead of quenching the Spirit we should be fanning the flame.

The idea of opening oneself to the unknown is a bit intimidating to those of us who thought being in control was the desired outcome. A rational understanding of the scriptures is what we were taught and that understanding was equated with "The Truth". To divert from that truth was to be on the wrong side of God.  The idea of spiritual experience was not to be trusted, and in fact some would go as far as to say that the Holy Spirit was no longer necessary because that which was perfect(i.e., the bible) had come. I would guess that unless you have questioned some of the previous statements you would not be reading this.  I hope I might offer you some hope and help on your journey.

To say that this spiritual journey is sometimes frightening would be an understatement.  Giving up control of our ideas about God can be, at times, terrifying.  There have been times when I felt like I was heading down the road to destruction, really.  I put this caution out there because I want you to be aware of the risks of the spiritual life. I would not want to lead you down a path without pointing out the potential pitfalls. Believe me when I say that the peril is worth it, but it is also real.  Many of Jesus' disciples turned back because they could not accept his teaching(John 6:60-66).

So the question is, can you open your heart to God?  Can you make even a small opening that the Christ might be welcomed?(Rev 3:20) The spiritual potential for Bible-believing christians is their knowledge of the scriptures. As Luke writes, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked
with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"(Luke 24:32) Let God's Love burn in your heart as you decide on the next step of your spiritual journey.

Peace,

Adam