Some of us may be disappointed with ourselves, like my
brother Matt. Not so much with particular things he has done, as with
aspects of the person he has become. Matt lives in Colorado, and we met
and talked at a family wedding recently.
I did not know much about Matt's private life, but after a
few wedding toasts he was willing to talk freely about his pain in not becoming
the person he had always thought he would become.
I told Matt boldly that we are called to become the person
God had in mind when he originally designed us. Matt listened
politely. I asked Matt if perhaps he had removed God from the central
role God longs to play in our lives. I told Matt, "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 Matt 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 us. Of course, it is still we who are 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 ---- using our own particular
temperament, our own gene pool, our own unique family history. But to
grow spiritually means to make those choices increasingly as Jesus would have
us do.
John Ortberg, a teacher, writer and the pastor of Menlo Park
(CA) Presbyterian Church, agrees that we may be missing the life that 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 complete life, says Ortberg, every moment and every facet of
it ---- but from God's perspective. "Another way of saying it,"
continues Ortberg, "is that God is not interested merely in our
"religious" life ---- God is really interested in our lives as a
whole. He intends to redeem our whole lives!"
As Pastor Ortberg sees it, God holds out the possibility of transformation,
and the possibility of our transformation generates hope in us.
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 tells us to live.
Getting clear on what the "spiritual life" looks
like is not a casual affair. How do we 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 authentic? One would
be "inauthentic" if preoccupied with merely appearing to
be spiritual. Sometimes we may work harder at making people think we are
a loving person than we do in actually loving them.
2.) Am I becoming judgmental or exclusive or proud?
Pride is a 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's 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 never open our hearts to love or joy. Conforming to some
particular religious subculture may simply not be a compelling enough vision to
cultivate 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 for other
people. The real issue is what kind of person are we 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 the life He desires for us.
Pastor Ortberg summarizes these thoughts by saying that
spirituality has to do with having our inner person (our mind, our will our
desires and intentions) formed and shaped by the words of Jesus, into a
character that will honor God, not simply honor ourselves.
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These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult
Spiritual Development Team, hoping to encourage your pursuit of personal
spiritual growth this summer at CPC.
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