CONCERNING SPIRITUALITY... AND SPIRITUAL LAZINESS

Many people claim to want "serious, practical Bible understanding" and the maturity of a "spiritual giant." They travel about, attending conferences about spirituality, and "life-changing" seminars and meetings about godliness, and much more. They have the idea that, with all these "resources" and all this "spiritual food," they will somehow gain an awe-inspiring spiritual godliness, which (if it were possible) would reach to the heavens in greatness.

The problem is, they want it in a few easy-to-do lessons. Or in a study group in which someone else does all the work - they only need to listen, as the leader "feeds" them. (They might claim that they "just don't have time" to do the work themselves, although they supposedly "wanted to.") Or they may go after a "spine-tingling," high-powered several-day seminar, in which somebody stands in front and tells them things like "the keys to spiritual success," with all the dynamic (and technique) of a salesperson.

Such people want spirituality... and they want it now. But they don't want to do the work that is necessary to get it. They don't want the days, months and years of effort. Or the pain, the agony and tears, the times of wrestling - both with their own thoughts and with what they find in God's Word. Nor do they want the self-denial, which Jesus says is the first step toward becoming his disciple. Nor do they want to hear the message of Scripture, which speaks against their way of life and the attitudes of their heart.

They want all the blessings of spirituality, delivered on an easy-to-grasp platter, but none of the work and pain - the things which cause spirituality to grow. They want spirituality... AND THEY WILL NEVER OBTAIN IT. They will be always grasping for something, always "almost there"... but never quite reaching it. And they will never know why.

Trying to get maximum spirituality with minimum effort just does not work. We reap what we sow.

Dennis Hinks © 1996, 2004
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