Spiritual Life...

I've said, for a long time now, that my Christianity is not my religion; it is my lifestyle. I have been wrong, and to continue in this line of thought would be to continue in error. Long ago I was told that a mistake only remains a mistake if we continue in it. There is limited truth to that, especially in this instance. I've thought that my Christianity was a lifestyle choice, my desire to folllow and emulate Jesus Christ, rather than have it become a religion of do's and dont's that we find so prevalent among churches today. As I walk and work in this world I don't want to be judged by this world as judgemental or hypocritical, as seems to be the attitude toward our more conventional churches (and members). Rather, I would like my world, my sphere of influence to see me as approachable, as loving, as forgiving, as accepting. I felt that I needed to learn to hate the sin while loving the sinner, as my Lord so demonstrated throughout his life here on earth. Hence my conclusion that my Christianity needed to be a lifestyle...So why is that wrong? I've come to learn that Christianity as a lifestyle isn't an end, but the fruit born of learning to walk in the Kingdom of God among us, or to live a "spiritual life". And what is that; what is "spirituality"? Science calls "spirit" "unembodied personal power", and isn't that God- Spirit and Power? I believe spirituality is learning to live in another reality, to live in a realm where we can and do draw upon the Holy Spirit for our power, our essence, our life. This was the life intended for us when God created Adam. They were in fellowship, in harmony, before sin entered the relationship. When faced with sin God told Adam they would now die, and indeed, the first death was not physical, but spiritual, for seperated from God's spirit was spiritual death for man. Jesus came, and lived, and showed us the way to restore that spiritual life, we just don't have the commitment, and discipline to do so (at least not many Christians do, in light of the number claiming to be)... And what are these disciplines that Jesus practiced? Fasting, solitude, prayer, acts of service, and worship. We occassionally dabble in this one or that, and even experience an unexplainable or supernatural event every now and then, and we are pleased with ourselves. But where is God speaking from a cloud, or a burning bush? Where is the seeing blind man or the walking, healed lame man? Why don't we experience that kind of faith, those miracles today? God hasn't changed, so it must be us... Can you imagine the response in today's world to a first-hand experience of our God of the Bible? I believe practicing these disciplines daily, as Jesus did, will allow us, will allow me, to do what Jesus did, and even greater things... Jesus disciplined himself daily, and when the critical time for action arrived he responed out of his discipline; his lifestyle was a natural outflow of his walk in the spiritual realm, his commitment a fruit of that walk. We, no I, can experience that power, that leading, if I commit to his disciplines... The choice is mine, the rewards eternal..

Spiritual vs Physical

As I sat in church this morning and took communion, I was again amazed at the "teaching" to take the bread and drink the cup in rememberance of our Lord... The pastor went on to say, (as often is said), that durig the busy-ness of our schedules we are commanded to do this.
Isn't the bread the symbol of Christ's body, and the wine his blood? Doesn't this represent the physical-ness of Jesus' sacrifice for us, the giving of his physical, human being? Should we not then be living for Him in our everyday, physical lives, not just dedicating a Sunday or so to Him? Too often we tend to seperate the spiritual from the physical, yet everything Jesus did or lived was a physical expression of his Spiritual condition... We can't daily emulate Jesus Christ if we confine our "spirituality" to Church, or Sundays... We must learn to live each moment of each day embracing the physical example of Jesus Christ, so that when that moment of decision comes, the time for critical action arrives, we react out of our discipline of following Him instead of our natural or carnal desires... Indeed, the outflowing of "works" is a natural result of living a discplined life that emulates Jesus, and difuses the argument of "faith vs works"... The two are interrelated and co-dependant on each other in the "Spirit-filled" life.
Until we learn the correlation between the physical and the spiritual we cannot expect to experience the kind of abundant life God promises to his children...