Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Weekly Commentary: What Triggers Spiritual Growth?

Does spiritual growth require some kind of hormone, like other efforts to enhance performance? Some of us may be disappointed with ourselves, like my brother Richard.  Not so much with particular things he has done, as with aspects of whom he has become.  Richard lives in Colorado, and we met and talked at a family wedding this summer.

I did not know much about Richard's private life, but after a few wedding toasts he was willing to talk freely about his pain of not being the person he had always thought he would become.  

I told Richard boldly that we are called to become the person God had in mind when he originally designed us.  Richard listened politely.  I asked Richard if perhaps he had removed God from the central role God longs to play in our lives.  I told Richard, "Perhaps you have refused to let God be God, and have appointed yourself in his place."

Later, we had a chance to talk, away from the distractions of the wedding reception.  I told Richard that perhaps what he was missing was some of the mysterious process called "spiritual growth." The goal of spiritual growth, I told him, is to live as if Jesus held unhindered sway over our bodies. Of course it is still we doing the living.  We are called by God, I said, to make daily life choices as the uniquely created selves which each of us is ---- with our own particular temperament, our own gene pool, our unique history.  But to grow spiritually means to make those choices increasingly as Jesus would have, if he were living in our unique place and time. That is, to perceive what Jesus would perceive if he looked through our eyes, to think what he would think, to feel what he would feel, and therefore to do what he would do.

John Ortberg, a teacher, writer and the pastor of Menlo Park (CA) Presbyterian Church, agrees that we may be missing the life we were appointed by God to live.   Too often, says Ortberg, people think about their "spiritual lives" as just one more aspect of their existence, alongside and largely separate from their "financial lives" or their "vocational lives."  Periodically they may try to get their spiritual lives "together" by praying more regularly or trying to master some other formal spiritual discipline.  It is the religious equivalent of going on a diet, or trying to stick to a budget, Ortberg says.

The term "spiritual life" is simply a way of referring to one's whole life, says Pastor Ortberg, every moment and every facet of it ---- from God's perspective.  "Another way of saying it," continues Ortberg, "is that God is not interested merely in your "spiritual life" ---- God is really interested in your life as a whole.  He intends to redeem it!"

As Pastor Ortberg sees it, "God holds out the possibility of transformation, and the possibility of transformation is the essence of hope.  Hope is the primary goal of spiritual life."  The goal of spiritual transformation can and should be pursued full-time, he says.  Often we reduce our "tools for spiritual growth" to a few activities, such as prayer and Bible study, or a few periods of the day called "quiet time."  However, every moment of our lives can be an opportunity to learn from God how to live like Jesus.

Getting clear on what "spiritual life" looks like is no casual affair.  How does one know if we are settling for false transformation instead of the real thing?  Here are a few warning signs offered by John Ortberg:

   1.) Am I spiritually "inauthentic"?  To be "inauthentic" means being preoccupied with appearing to be spiritual.  Perhaps we have a hard time talking about God without trying to convince people we are "spiritual."  Or, we may work harder at making people think we are a loving person than we do at actually loving them.

   2.) Am I becoming judgmental or exclusive or proud?  Pride is a potential problem for anyone who takes spiritual growth seriously.  As soon as we start to pursue virtue, we begin to wonder why others are not as virtuous as we are.

   3.) Am I becoming more approachable, or less?  In Jesus' day, rabbis had the mistaken notion that their spirituality required them to distance themselves from people.  The irony is that the only rabbi that outcasts could touch was Jesus ---- he was the most approachable religious person they had ever seen.  The other religious leaders had a kind of awkwardness that pushed people away.

   4.) Am I growing weary of pursuing spiritual growth?  Conventional religious goodness manages to be both intimidating and unchallenging at the same time, and this is tiresome. Intimidating because, for example, it might involve 39 separate rules about Sabbath-keeping alone.  Unchallenging because we may devote our lives to observing all the rules and not ever open our hearts to love or joy.  Conforming to some particular religious subculture is simply not a compelling enough vision to captivate the human spirit.

   5.) Am I measuring my spiritual life in superficial ways?  God's primary assessment of our lives is not going to be a measure of the number of our prayers, Scripture readings or meditations. Rather, the question is whether we are growing in love for God and people.  The real issue is what kind of person we are becoming?  Practices such as reading Scripture and praying are important 
---- not because they prove how spiritual we are ---- but because God can use them to lead us into life.   

Pastor Ortberg summarizes these thoughts by saying that spirituality refers to the Spirit of God and the fact that we are spiritual creatures.  So, Christian spirituality has to do with having our inward person (our mind, our will, our desires and intentions) formed or shaped by Jesus into a character that will honor God.
________________________________________________________________________________

These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult Spiritual Development Team, hoping to encourage your pursuit of personal spiritual growth this Fall at CPC.
________________________________________________________________________________

No comments:

Post a Comment