Monday, January 14, 2019

Spiritual Formation (Spiritual Guidance part 2)

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For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and in part I believe it (Holy Bible: New American Standard Bible, 1 Corinthians 11:18).

But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses

trained to discern good and evil (Ibid. Hebrews 5:14).

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love (Ibid. 1 John 4:7-8).

Often, the young learn from their elders. You can read in Proverbs, “The beginning of wisdom is: Acquire wisdom…” (Ibid. 4:7). A prominent place to acquire wisdom is from those who have been around a while and learned a thing or two about life. However, age does not always mean maturity. It’s likely that we’ve all seen adults act like children. In a small community, there was a group of adults who were unhappy with the leadership of their church and decided to leave*. However, this group of adults chose to make sure that everyone in their small community knew that they had left that church. They called other members of the church and told them that they were more spiritual than that church and they should leave with them. They went about spreading rumors about the pastor and his wife. Oddly, these actions and behaviors sound more like what you find amongst immature teenagers, but, these were adults. In fact, they were the parents of teenagers, adults who regarded themselves as mature and spiritual leaders.

Perhaps, maturity is found more in action than in age. We can see that very idea in the pages of the New Testament. This principle can be seen in Jesus’ own words to believers when He said that we should let our lights shine before the unbelieving world. Specifically, our actions, with the hope of bringing glory to God (Matt. 5:16). His teaching evidently rubbed off on the Apostle John, because he wrote that, we should love in actions or in what we do, as opposed to simply by words (1 John 3:18). Therefore, as you seek a Spiritual Guide, does their walk consist of gossip or in love, joy, and peace? Do they display their spirituality by causing division and factions in the body or in kindness, goodness, and faithfulness? When they speak of others is there malice and maligning or gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23)? These fruits of the Spirit are real evidence of maturity.

[* People have left a church for a variety of reason, some good and some bad. However, their actions speak louder of their spiritual walks than their words.]

Written by Pastor Ozzy

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Works Cited

1995. Holy Bible: New American Standard Bible. LaHabra: The Lockman Foundation.

Monday, January 7, 2019

Spiritual Formation (Spiritual Guidance part 1)

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To Timothy, My true child in the faith… (Holy Bible: New American Standard Bible, 1 Timothy 1:2)

Samuel [the Prophet] said to Saul, “You have acted foolishly… now your kingdom shall not endure…” (Idib. 1 Samuel 13:13-14)

Nathan [the Prophet] then said to David … “Why have you despised the word of the Lord… Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house…” (Ibid. 2 Samuel 12:7-10)

Spiritual Friendship and Spiritual Guidance are similar in ways, because both rely on a relationship between two people and are tools for spiritual growth. Hierarchy can be a tricky topic when it relates to these relationships. In the broad sense, there is more of a hierarchical structure in Spiritual Guidance, however, I feel this can be best explained using a ladder. Imagine a ladder that is flat on the ground, you can see that the third rung is farther from the start than the first rung, but since the ladder is flat on the ground, the third is no higher than the first (Spiritual Direction and the Care of Souls, Kindle Location 1088). As I understand it, Spiritual Formation is similar to this flat ladder. There are people who have had more time and opportunity to move up the rungs of the ladder and are therefore farther along; however, not higher, the way a regional manager is over a store manager, who is over a department manager and so forth.

What makes for a good spiritual guide? Let me tell you about two spiritual leaders that I have personally encountered. The first was not a mentor and the second was. I don’t know if the first loved his neighbor as he loved himself; however, I saw the second love his neighbor as he loved himself. The first once mistakenly said the Babylonian captivity lasted 80 years and when I pointed out that it was 70 years, he was gruff and abrasive that I would correct him. The second once confused the words dispensationalism and cessationism, but was accepting and grateful to be corrected.

Remember the episode where a Pharisee invited Jesus to dinner (Luke 7:36-50), and a woman with the reputation of being a sinner made her way to the dinner also. There she wept on Jesus’ feet and dried them with her hair. This made the Pharisee doubt Jesus’ holiness because He accepted the sinful woman. Jesus then told the story of a money lender and two debtors, both of whom were unable to repay their debts. In the story, the money lender forgave both debts, then Jesus asked the Pharisee, “which will then love the money lender more?” The Pharisee was right to point out the one that was forgiven the greater debt. Jesus used that to illustrate the relationship between grace and a person being changed.

That change, the kind brought about by God’s love and His grace, as opposed to a change brought by a higher religiosity, is vital in a Spiritual Guide. Because, they have be changed by God and by themselves.