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Tag: Spirituality

Decorator Spirituality?

Bible

Spiritual theology, using Scripture as text, does not present us with a moral code and tell us “Live up to this”; nor does it set out a system of doctrine and say, “Think like this and you will live well.” The biblical way is to tell a story and in the telling invite: “Live into this–This is what it looks like to be human in this God-made and God-ruled world; this is what is involved in becoming and maturing as a human being.”

We do violence to the biblical revelation when we “use” it for what we can get out of it or what we think will provide color and spice to our otherwise bland lives. That always results in a kind of “decorator spirituality” — God as enhancement. Christian are not interested in that; we are after something far bigger. When we submit our lives to what we read in Scripture, we find that we are not being led to see God in our stories but our stories in God’s. God is the larger context and plot in which our stories find themselves.

(taken from Eugene Peterson, Eat This Book)

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What Is True Spirituality?

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What is true spirituality? Is it some other-worldy type living that is disconnected from real life? In other words, does being spiritual result in us becoming more angelic? Or is true spirituality merely learning what it means to be truly human?

Consider the following words from Rodney Clapp and Richard Lovelace…

Christian spirituality is for people, not angels. Christian spirituality is the whole person’s participation and formation in the church–Christ’s body, the Spirit’s public–which exists to entice and call the world back to its Creator, its true purpose, and its only real hope.

Christian spirituality is for people: bodily, social, embedded in time.

-Rodney Clapp in Tortured Wonders

True spirituality is not superhuman religiosity; it is simply true humanity released from bondage to sin and renewed by the Holy Spirit. This is given to us as we grasp by faith the full content of Christ’s redemptive work: freedom from the guilt and power of sin, and newness of life through the indwelling and outpouring of his Spirit

-Richard Lovelace in Dynamics of Spiritual Life

According to Clapp and Lovelace, spirituality is not becoming so heavenly minded that you become no earthly good. Nor is it becoming so attuned to the world we live in that we forget we are citizens of another kingdom (see Phil. 3:20).

True spirituality is learning to be truly human. It is about being redeemed by God to once again, depend upon Him for life, goodness and happiness. And it is doing so in the midst of a world that is broken needing to hear and see what it really means to be human.

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