True or False Spirituality

Every man, woman and child that has ever been born came with an inherent void. It is expressed different ways; an emptiness, longing, searching, restlessness, yearning, lack, vacuum, an itch you cannot reach etc.

This is expressed many different ways as a person reaches out trying to fulfill that need. One "Tee" shirt I saw expresses it in part [I dare not quote the whole thing.] like this; "Too much horse power is almost enough...." Being a man, I like that thought. We humans are unfulfilled in the flesh. And often we destroy ourselves or others trying to fulfill the void.

That incompleteness is in the realm of the spirit or "spirituality". As long as we ignore the need of "spirituality" in our lives, we will always have a void in us. I recognize that "spiritual" or "spirituality" means different things to different people. And to some it is so foggy that it is almost meaningless. In this page I prefer to use the first definition that Webster uses.

"spirituality...1. spiritual character, quality, or nature..."(Webster's New World College Dictionary. Fourth Edition - page 1382.

To set your mind at ease, the term "religion" means different things to different people. For myself I'll just say that "religiosity" is obnoxious to me.

The photo above is "Penny". As you can see Penny is a pot bellied pig. Some one got tired of feeding Penny, so they dropped Penny off at a friends farm. Now my friend was not into pigs. So instead of being put in a pig pen, Penny was allowed to roam all over the farm. You could find Penny just about anywhere - if there was feed there.

Unfortunately Penny eventually passed away. But she can still be used to illustrate the truth we want to point out. We will return to Penny in a minute.

There is a fact we need to grasp. Let's use money to illustrate. Counterfeit money. If someone tried to pass off the play money of a Monopoly game for money to us, we would know it in an instant. But counterfeit money might not be recognized by many of us. So we would accept it and with with an honest clear conscious pass it on as the real thing.

It is that same way in the realm of the "spirit". Most of the stuff being passed off as "spiritual" is counterfeit. It may be proclaimed and taught by very honest at heart, sincere people. But they have been misinformed. So they attempt to help us with a counterfeit spirituality. God himself teaches us that "Satan" (The Devil) sometimes appears as an "angel of light". And remember that the Devil is a master deceiver.

Now back to Penny the pig. Suppose that one day Penny decided to be a cute little lamb. Would that make Penny a lamb? Of course not. Every time Penny tried to "bah or baa" it would still come out as "oink". Even if Penny took a bath, tied a pink ribbon around her neck and pour a bottle of perfume over herself - she would still be a pig. Penny was born a pig. Penny has a pig nature and no matter how hard Penny tried to think positive about being a lamb, Penny would still be a pig.

Now you might sit on a flag pole. Or fold you hands and look at the sky all day long, or set in an uncomfortable position and empty your head of every thing. But you still will not be spiritual. You might go through your day repeating something you heard all day long or think good thoughts about every thing. But you still will not be spiritual. Because you were not born spiritual.

If I decided to become a Cherokee indian; an Eskimo, or a Chinaman, it would not work because I was not born one.

We are not "spiritual" by birth or nature. But we can become "spiritual" by birth. HOW?

Please grasp this fact. This is not my opinion. It is God's. So if you do not agree with it, your argument is with God - not me.

A very, very "religious" man came to Jesus Christ one night to ask him a question. "Religious" people, and all the rest of us, need to pay attention to Christ's answer.

"Jesus answered, 'I am telling you the truth; no one can see the Kingdom of God without being born again.' 'How can a grown man be born again?' Nicodemus asked. 'He certainly cannot enter his mother's womb and be born a second time!' 'I am telling you the truth,' replied Jesus, 'that no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. A person is born physically of human parents, but is born spiritually of the Spirit. Do not be surprised because I tell you that you must all be born again. The wind blows wherever it wishes; you hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. It is like that with everyone who is born of the Spirit.'" (John 3:3-8 GNT)

So how are we born again? No matter how lofty our thoughts, or lack of them. No matter how smart we think we are, or how many good things we have done - we are separated from God; because we are going our own way. We have to turn from going our own way and turn to God. A few verses latter the most famous verse in all the Bible is stated by Jesus. This is God's remedy for our problem.

"For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life." (John 3:16 GNT)

In the opening section of John's Gospel, talking of Christ coming into the world he states.

"Some, however, did receive him and believed in him; so he gave them the right to become God's children." (John 1:12 GNT)

Simply stated;

l. We have to realize that our lives have separated us from God. And we cannot be good enough to become one with God.

2. We must confess to God our own failure and need of him.

3. We must ask him to come into our life and take over. Submit to him as our Lord and God.Then give him the control over our life.

If we honestly do this, God's Spirit will come into us and we will be born of the Spirit. Then we will be truly "spiritual".