Spirituality

I was thinking about the term spirituality.  People use that word ( I used to myself) rather than boldly say, “I am a Christian”.  but you can be very spiritual and not obedient to the one and only God and certainly not know Jesus as God’s only begotten Son whom He raised from the dead.  I was listening to a sermon in which the pastor was sharing how difficult it is for many people who are Christians to actually say the word, Jesus.  They say things like, “God bless, in God we pray, under God, I believe in God...” but not often do we hear or say outside of church, “In Jesus name, Jesus blessed us,” or even “Jesus is the Son of God”.  Using the god term, we express a unity of tolerance to different beliefs who also use the god term, but just like there are many mothers, there is only one mother which gave birth to me or to you.

Interesting isn’t it.  I find myself having this difficulty, I think it was the mysticism attached to the supernatural devine aspect of Jesus.  God in heaven is conceptualized as unseen and only felt or experienced, but Jesus....well that is a whole other concept of a man/God.  That brings to mind some of the Greek and Roman gods who were never seen walking this earth, only imagined like a unicorn is an imagined creature:  a unicorn can be drawn or cartooned but it is not a real living breathing creature.  And the understanding that we, too, can have the power to heal and to forgive if we plug into God through Holy Spirit....well that is just mind boggling!

Jesus was a real living breathing man who walked this earth 2000 years ago and who lived an earthly life until around age 33.  His birth to a virgin was known only by attestation of his mother, Mary and her husband, Joseph whom they shared with others who believed them and who knew God the Father through their special relationship to Him via the prophets and the Word.

His death on the cross was significant not because an innocent man was put to death (that has happened many times) but because of what his death produced (an atoning death...payment in entirety of our debt of sin) and because of the renewal to life brought about by his resurrection and ascension; witnessed by hundreds.

So to say with our mouths that Jesus is Lord is not so easy,  it is actually easier to believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead.  Our heart beliefs don’t necessarily have to be shared verbally.  We step towards that sharing in our behaviors towards others and towards ourselves.  That is why faith is an action word.  With only a mustard seed of faith, we have what we need to actively plant the Word and care for the seed until it grows into a huge tree and spreads its own seeds.