In this rebroadcast from early 2021, Gary discusses an interchange he had with “Chaplain Mike” on Facebook.
Being “spiritual” does not mean “made up of spirit.” “Spirit” is not a ghost-like substance that inhabits the truly “spiritual Christian.” The adjective, as in “spiritual man” and “spiritual body,” does not mean ethereal, incorporeal, immaterial, otherworldly, or even unworldly as depicted in movies like The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Ghost, and The Sixth Sense. True spirituality takes form as we live in this world in our own bodies following God’s Word in the power of the Holy Spirit:
To be Spiritual is to be guided and motivated by the Holy Spirit. It means obeying His commands as recorded in the Scriptures. The Spiritual man is not someone who floats in midair and hears eerie voices. The Spiritual man is the man who does what the Bible says (Romans 8:4–8). This means, therefore, that we are supposed to get involved in life. God wants us to apply Christian standards everywhere, in every area. Spirituality does not mean retreat and withdrawal from life.[1]
Spirituality is measured by “good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10). Good works manifest themselves at the personal level as the Christian exhibits the “fruit of the Spirit” (Gal. 5:22–24), at the family level as children obey their parents (Eph. 6:1), at the business level where employers pay a promised wage (Deut. 24:15), at the judicial level where all should be considered equal before the law (Lev. 24:22), and at the civil level where civil governments are paid their due (Matt. 22:21) and do what’s right (Rom. 13:4).
We have been redeemed and rescued from the pollution of the world. This does not mean that we are to turn our backs on life. Rather, we are to avoid all participation in the world’s uncleanness. “Christians, indeed, as our Lord taught, are the light of the world; this they cannot be if their light is hidden or withdrawn. Thus they are to let their light shine before men (Mt. 5:14ff.), though at the same time shunning the depravities of unregenerate society and of unchristian worship.”[2]
Myths, Lies, and Half-Truths
Christianity's failure to show itself practical in the past 150 years has guaranteed the success of secularism and militant Islam, both of which are doing incalculable harm at home and abroad. The rejection of any type of ‘this-worldly’ application of the Bible has resulted in the proliferation of man-centered worldviews that have steadily drained the life out of our world and left behind a spiritual vacuum.
Buy NowShould our faith influence how we think, move, have our being, and vote? Should Christians be politically motivated and seek to make changes in the world around them according to biblical principles? Or should we simply live out our faith quietly and privately before those around us? Gary discusses an interchange he had with “Chaplain Mike” on Facebook.
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[1] David Chilton, Paradise Restored: A Biblical Theology of Dominion (Horn Lake, MS: Dominion Press, [1985] 2007), 3–4.
[2] Philip E. Hughes, Commentary on the Second Epistle to the Corinthians (NICNT) (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1962), 256.