The Spirituality Trap
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Jeff Lampl
Jeff Lampl
With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.” Jeremiah 31:3 (NLT)
Have you found, as I have, that the practice of the spiritual disciplines can actually be a trap? Approached incorrectly they can accomplish exactly the opposite of what the Gospel teaches us. They can turn the Gospel into a guilt inducing to do list.
Probably
for the majority of my Christian Life I have struggled with the disciplines of
regular Bible reading, prayer, quiet times, serving, and community.
Mostly I’ve felt like I haven’t
done enough or haven’t done them right.
More often than not that has left me feeling guilty that I’m not doing
enough for God or with God. The
disciplines all too easily have become another list of to do’s.
Although I am fully aware that the practice of the presence of God must
not be allowed to devolve into “if I do these, God will accept me and when I
don’t do these, God’s upset with me” I do find myself trapped there
sometimes. The Gospel
doesn’t allow for that. The
Gospel tells us that that we are accepted, loved, cherished regardless of what
we do.
I have
read books on prayer without actually praying.
I have read about scripture without actually reading scripture.
I have prayed lists to God without actually connecting with God.
I have served God in ways that have actually prevented me from meeting
God.
What God
really wants is a relationship with each of us whereby we are silent long enough
to hear him tell us how much he loves us, how much he wants for
us not from us.
A
spiritual discipline, practiced properly, is not something we do in order to
gain God’s favor or to make us better people, rather is a practice which
positions us so that God has space to connect with us, space for God to get a
word in edgewise. They are about
God, not about us and the quality of our practices.
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