The one with seven things that seem super spiritual, but actually may be quite the opposite

1. These are some recent thoughts from conversations I’ve had and books I’ve been reading… you may not agree… I may not be clear… so be gracious… and I hope it imparts grace…




   1.  Not having time for people because you are having a Quiet Time
2.     Feeling Guilt because of what a bad person you are
3.     Reading
4.     Only serving others, giving to others when there is a chance to evangelize
5.     Being a nice person
6.     Holding firm to Truth
7.     Sharing the Gospel in every situation

Spending time with God is a noble thing. If you want to impress people, talk about your devotion to your devotions… mention how early you get up to have a quiet time…  people will think you are great… and you will feel you’re great too.

But far too often a Quiet Time is used as an excuse for actually engaging with others.

It is an excuse to not go share your faith or to not help a friend in need or not do a loving or serving thing for another.

Because… of course you should prioritize God over another person.

But is this what God requires of us? Does He require us to have a quiet time every day at a specific time for a specific duration?

Isn’t He more pleased when we love mercy? When we do justly? When we serve others? When we love others? When we go out of our way for someone?

If a quiet time is to grow in love for God, shouldn’t we prioritze the things that show love to God – namely loving other people?

Many can spend a lot of time reading the Word, but then don’t do what the Word says, and often we don’t do what the Word says because we are spending time in the Word.

Obviously having regular time with God is good. Being in the Word is vital. And prayer is our breath.

But do we need a quiet time to do this?

Can we not walk with God in any moment? We can meditate on His Word all day long as we do other activities. And we can live out what the Word says.

Jesus got up early in the morning to meet with the Father, but He also stopped praying to help those around Him.

Quiet Times though, seem spiritual. Because it is so personal and requires discipline & conviction. Doing things with & for others just seems like a fun things to do.

On the other hand, it is much easier to read the Bible and to pray than it is to serve others, to sacrificially love others, to give our time and money to others.

American culture has built this feeling. A quiet time is of highest importance… in an individualistic society. But the Biblical mandate is actually more communal than individual… something to think about.

Feeling guilty.

Romans 8:1 Says “There is therefore now NO Condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. This means we are free from sin & from guilt & from shame.

Henry Cloud says we don’t take this far enough. He says this means there is never a right time to feel guilty.

The Holy Spirit convicts, but if we feel guilty, that is our own response.

He goes onto explain the difference between godly sorrow & guilt. Godly sorrow is sorry about the pain you caused another person and caused God. Guilt is being sad about what you did wrong.

Guilt is very self-focused.

While I am still fleshing out this idea of no guilt at all, I think Cloud is onto something. Guilt is very self-focused. It’s what I do when I mess up. I think I’m a bad person. I don’t really want to change, I just want to feel bad. And I want that to be enough. Instead of focusing on the hurt I cause my wife, I say I am such a bad husband. Instead, I should feel heart-felt sorrow for the hurt I cause and work on doing things differently.

When someone shows guilt over their sin, it seems like they are spiritual to feel so bad. And while hating sin is good… we ought hate sin for the hurt it causes God, not because we hate that we’re so bad.

True faith would not hold onto guilt, but abide in grace.

This is hard… for when I do confess my sin and move on and don’t feel guilt… I often feel guilt for not feeling any guilt.

Guilt & shame are from the devil. We need to abide in the love & grace of Christ & enjoy Him, enjoy His forgiveness, worship Him after we sin for how great is mercy & faithfulness is.

Reading

Reading is a good thing… it can help us come closer to God and grow us in areas we are weak. But is it always more godly, more mature? It really could just be a personality trait. And worse yet, it could be a source of spiritual pride. We feel like we’re better because we’re spending time reading… but maybe we just enjoy reading… maybe we are doing it to gain knowledge and feel superior.

I’m not saying reading is bad or all our motivations are bad…

I like to read and believe the more you read, the more you learn….

but just reading more doesn’t necessarily mean you are more mature.

Only serving/giving when there is a chance to evangelize

This is a major pet-peeve of many… and I’m starting to get it.

Many out there look down on organizations if they are not doing evangelism… seeing as giving to the poor, building church buildings and other such things as less important work.

The thing is, every aspect is important. While we don’t want to shy from sharing the Gospel- we must use words… to look down on others who are serving & giving is immature.

In fact, giving/serving others without being able to see fruit may be more difficult. Most of the time those actions are done with hopes of results in long-term.

Giving your time & money to strangers is probably more difficult than to share a message with them. At least for me.

Being nice

Many have seemed  to interpret loving our neighbor as being nice to our neighbor. If it’s not nice, how can it be loving? But in fact being nice is sometimes not really not that nice and is indeed not loving.

Much like allowing an alcoholic to keep drinking or a someone drunk to drive… we sometimes need to do things people may not feel is very nice to truly be loving.

In being nice, we avoid sharing the Gospel… we avoid confronting our brother about sin in his life… we allow a friend to hold incorrect doctrine…

Really when we make our goal to be nice, we are making how people perceive us the number one thing in our lives.

People like nice people… but they are not always the best for us… and it is not always the most loving way to act

Holding firm to truth

In the opposite spectrum is the one who holds so strongly to truth, he doesn’t care how another person may feel.

At this point his concern isn’t for the person’s soul as much it is to be right.

I believe we do need to be honest with people about what we think of their actions or beliefs. At the same time our speech needs to be seasoned with salt that it may give grace to the hearers.

The purpose of speaking truth should be to edify and to proclaim Christ… if it is not accomplishing this then maybe we should reconsider our actions & words.

Sharing the Gospel in every situation

Bill Bright looked at interactions with others as a “Divine appointment.”

And I think he was right.

When we interact with someone, it is an opportunity to be God’s ambassador, to reflect Christ, to show love, to give grace, and help them understand the Gospel.

But we have to be careful.

Sometimes the people we are talking with may not be ready to receive all we want to say.

I once heard someone say that he “did my job” as if he felt good about himself because he shared the message, even if the guy didn’t respond well. While our job may be to simply proclaim the Gospel and allow the Spirit to do His work, our goal/hope should be the person would receive Christ.

I’ve come to realize it often takes more faith for me to not share the Gospel than it does for me to share the Gospel. I have to believe God will work in someone’s life, even if I don’t get to share the Gospel with them.

I want to give every person a glimpse of the Gospel (at least)… but I don’t need to force it, I don’t need to make it happen. I need to trust God, even if I don’t see the fruit…

There are probably other things and more that could be said about these things both positively and negatively… I’m really just processing & starting the discussion here.