I have found myself truly captivated by a very important topic. Much of this has come from the conversation I am having with a friend of mine that I mentioned to you yesterday. What I want to talk with you about today is something that often gets overlooked in the modern church: The DEPTH of our spirituality.
Eastern cultures carry with them a depth of spirituality that is often lost in the American Church. I'm not implying that there we do not have mature believers. There's plenty of people who know what they believe, why they believe it, and can recite it. The church is full of people who are well versed in their Bibles, can pray nice prayers, and witness to the saving faith of Jesus Christ. What is missing (in my opinion) is the way in which we carry our spirituality.
Let me see if I can explain:
I'm longing for the day when I see in the American Church a deeper sense of faith. It's what Paul described in Acts when He said, "In Him (speaking of God) we live and move and have our being." It's carrying the reality of God in all things. It's being enamored once again with the grace, love, mercy, and reality of God. It's a recapturing of the "mystery" of the Gospel.
What does that look like to me? Well...that's hard to put into words. It's more than a sense of reverence - although that is needed. It's not a longing for weirdness - we've got plenty of that just being ourselves (lol). It's like what you see when you watch a movie that has a group of monks who have devoted themselves to a life of seeking God. The holiness is evident. The sincerity of their faith is rich. They have discovered God in all things. And yet, they continue to seek Him. It's the mystery of what drives these men to these places that truly intrigues me. There is an aura if you will that comes off of their lives. Where we understand that in their silence, in their seclusion, and in their community they have been with God.
When Peter and John stood before the council we read that they took not of these men. They recognized that they had been with Jesus. This is the reality that I want to enter into. I'm not looking for people to float across the room. I'm not asking that we have such a sense of holiness that people cannot come in contact with us. It's just a depth of God that hasn't been expressed very often in the church. That sense of knowing WHO we have been in communion with. The "mysticism" if you will that has been vacant for some time.
It's a topic that many people never deal with since we have allowed the New Age Movement to set the agenda. However, I believe that we can live with such a consciousness of God that we can carry His presence. I believe that there are greater depths in God that have been left undiscovered simply because we are stuck in the basic cycles of learning (more books, more reading, more studying). Where is the contemplative prayer? Where are the times of solitude where we get into the presence of God? Where is the depth of spirituality?
We carry a mystery. Yes...a lot of that mystery has been explained. However, it's still a mystery nonetheless. I like that word because mystery requires searching. It requires investigation. It requires going after something. Maybe this idea has been lost since we tend to view salvation as a 1 time event rather than an ongoing lifestyle. We have been saved, but we are being saved and we will be saved. It's a journey. It's a lifelong process. Our salvation is secure in Christ but our experience in Christ needs to keep going. They are depths in God that we have yet to discover.
Doesn't that make you want to jump in? Doesn't the thought of something more make you want to immerse yourself in Christ? This is what we were called to live. This is where the Lord is taking us. A faith that permeates your very existence. A belief that there is always something available in the Holy Spirit that we haven't entered into.
Oh God, help us to recapture this hunger. Help us to move deeper into your heart. May our ambition of life be to know you and to make you known. May we never stop short. May we never become complacent. May we always be willing to go deeper in you. May our lives become a testimony of what is available in you.
Let the journey begin!!! Let's stop looking at the water and take a jump off the dock!!! Let's dive in!!!
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