Religion vs. Spirituality!

Part 4


Since I started studying the Bible back in January of this year, my faith in God has grown tremendously. During that time, I was a man who was trying to believe, but now I completely believe in God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. My new-found faith started around late December, after hearing a wonderful message at my Church. The story was about two men who had faith in God. One of them believed every word in the Bible, while the other doubted everything. One of the men asked the other, "Why do you believe, if you doubt everything?" And the other man replied, "I believe, because something had to have happened 2,000 years ago!

I'm not sure if that's how the whole story goes, but I'm just giving you the gist of it. The man who doubted, couldn't deny the fact that God came down from heaven as Jesus Christ(his son), and changed the course of human history. Jesus changed everything, and his impact will probably be felt throughout the world..........until he comes back. So when I heard that story, I realized that I could try to believe in God again, and that it's okay to question things.

Before I started working on becoming a Christian again, I was an agnostic. I didn't believe in God, but I couldn't deny the fact that he(or she) had to exist. It was difficult to believe in God, because I couldn't stop doubting and questioning things. Luckily, God made me realized what he had in store for me, and blessed my spirit to study and know the truth.

When I first started studying, my heart was very guarded. I just couldn't understand the truth, nor accept it. I had to look inside of myself, and realize that the things I love about the world, were basically poison for my soul and keeping me separate from God. I had to apply God's word to my life, which is easier said than done. There are things that you simply don't want to eliminate from your life to follow Jesus Christ. You have to leave the world and whatever you find pleasure within it, and follow God.

So what's the difference between being religious and spiritual? Religiosity is the thing that killed Jesus, not spirituality. Let's look at some scriptures. In James 1: 22-24, "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away immediately forgets what he looks like."

To me, this scripture says that you should not only listen to the word of God, but apply it to your life. Anybody can be religious about anything, like drugs, alcohol, sex, technology, movies, television, and reading. This can also include reading the Bible and going to Church every week, but not doing what God says. Can you apply his teachings to your life? Can you truly love somebody, be patient with people, be kind, compassionate, and gracious towards all people?
If you're a Christian who does none of these things, then you're not applying the Bible to your life. When you apply it to your life, that is when you become a true disciple, and a spiritual person to God's eyes.

Let's look at another scripture. In 1 Samuel 16: 7, 'But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

To me, this tells me that God only pays attention to the heart of man. We can fool other people, but we can't fool God, because he can see what is in our heart. And if we're talking about the Word and not applying it to our lives, then our hearts are not aimed towards God. We can hide that from people, but not from God.

Here is another scripture. Deuteronomy 8: 5, "Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you."

As disciples, we must have discipline. How do we get discipline from God? By reading his word and applying it. If we don't apply it, then we're not disciplined and basically doing whatever we want. We can't do that, because we'll get lost in the forest. By applying Gods word, we stay disciplined and become spiritual.

One last scripture. In Galations 5: 22-25, "But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Against such things, there is no law. Those who belong in Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with it's passions and desires. Since we live by the spirit, let us keep in step with the spirit."

We must always keep in step with the spirit. And in order to do that, we must apply the teachings of Jesus Christ to our life. By following his word, we become Christ like. And what is God's character?

1) God is love.
2) God is compassionate.
3) God is forgiving.
4) God is gracious.

God is many other great things, but these are basically the basics of who he is and why we must apply his word to our daily lives. We must read and study the scriptures everyday, pray on a daily basis, find a great Church, go to Bible talks, pray with other disciples, and fellowship with other disciples.

This is the difference between being religious and spiritual. When you put the word of God into practice and actually do what it says, you become a truly spiritual person. As Jesus Christ says in John 3: 21, "But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."

We as Christians, need to focus more on being spiritual, instead of trying to be religious.