On Being Spiritual

[El Hombre viejo]

Being spiritual has nothing to do with what we know about spiritual things. Being spiritual has nothing to do with where we go to church or under whose teaching we sit. We may quote this one and that one and report dreams, visions and divine interventions, but that has nothing to do with being "spiritual."

According to Kevin DeYoung, Jonathan Edwards gives us a very appropriate definition of true spirituality..




<hr style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 0pt; margin: 0pt;"> <table> <tbody> <tr> <td style="line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 0pt;"> Spiritual Not Religious?


Is “spiritual” the right word to describe our friends and neighbors interested in God, prayer, and the mysterious? Jonathan Edwards thinks not:
Now it may be observed that the epithet “spiritual,” in these and other parallel texts of the New Testament, is not used to signify any relation of persons or things to the spirit or soul of man, as the spiritual part of man, in opposition to the body, which is the material part: qualities are not said to be spiritual, because they have their seat in the soul, and not in the body: for there are some properties that the Scripture calls carnal or fleshly, which have their seat as much in the soul, as those properties that are called spiritual. Thus it is with pride and self-righteousness, and a man’s trusting to his own wisdom, which the Apostle calls fleshly (Col. 2:18).
Nor are things called spiritual, because they are conversant about those things that are immaterial, and not corporeal. For so was the wisdom of the wise men, and princes of this world, conversant about spirits, and immaterial beings; which yet the Apostle speaks of as natural men, totally ignorant of those things that are spiritual (I Cor. ch. 2). But it is with relation to the Holy Ghost, or Spirit of God, that persons or things are termed spiritual, in the New Testament.

I think Edwards is spot-on here. Now, it’s not worth correcting the people we are trying to reach. But it’s really more accurate to say an increasing number of Westerners are religious, not spiritual.

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[Davy]

Hi, El Hombre viejo: Your comment reminded me of a Oprah Winfrey show I watched recently. Her three guests were "allegedly" experts in the field of spirituality. Unbelievably, each person including Oprah took it in turns to say what being spiritual or spirituality meant to them. And each one of them had a different explanation, it seams in the new age world, spirituality can mean what you want it to mean. Even the dictionary has a number of different meaning.

However, it seams wise to me not to see what some man or woman says spirituality mean, but rather let God's word explain what it means.

Paul wrote in Romans 8:6, (KJV) "To be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace!" Clearly, Paul is saying that being a spiritual person is more than a matter of personal preference. In fact, it is a matter of life and death! Paul had much to say about what true spirituality is. To the Corinthians, Paul explained the difference between a physical man, and a spiritual man. In 1 Corinthians 2:14-16, Paul wrote: (NLT) "But people who aren't spiritual can't receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can't understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others. For, Who can know the Lord's thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him? But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ." It seam to me, Paul is explained that a spiritual person is characterized by having "the mind of Christ."

Having "the mind of Christ" basically means having "the same mental attitude that Christ Jesus had." In other words, a spiritual man is one who thinks as Jesus does and walks in His footsteps. (1　Peter 2:21; 4:1) The more a person's mind resembles that of Christ, the deeper their spirituality is and the closer they are to gaining "life and peace!"

 

[Brother Mike]

Spiritual..............

If you want to find out how spiritual a man is, just watch them at home with their family, and observe how they conduct themselves at work.

Jesus Is Lord

 

[The Robster]

If you want to find out how spiritual a man is, just watch them at home with their family, and observe how they conduct themselves at work.

Jesus Is Lord

That's good stuff Brother Mike. There was a time I didn't really understand what it meant to be spiritual. But I've come to believe that if you really are "spiritual" then God is real to you. And you live and act and speak as if the Lord is manifested in form and is right next to you watching and eharing you. While we know the Lord hears and sees everything, I think sometimes as Christians we don't live with that consciousness of the Lord being right there liek He said He would be. I know some Christians are better at this than others.