The Spiritual Life 2.0

Summary:
The Spiritual Life (TSL) 1.0: “Religion” (rituals, “earning” God’s favor, limited real life impact, “being a basically good person”, etc.)
The Spiritual Life (TSL) 2.0: An active relationship with a loving and wise God with current and eternal purpose.

Religion (TSL 1.0) says, I need to do things to make God happy and go to Heaven.  I need to give up on things I like.
Relationship (TSL 2.0) says, God loves me and is wiser than me, so I “want” to be with God and I trust God’s guidance.

Religion is motivated similar to a child that wants something from the parents.
Relationship is like a child that trusts the parent and follows guidance with hope based on experience.

Religion says, You can never really know if you are good enough.
Relationship says, You KNOW that you have unconditional love.

Religion says, I do these things because they are required.
Relationship says, I do these things because they bring benefit to others as well as myself.

Religion says, I have hopes about going to Heaven, but am never really confident.
Relationship says, I KNOW I will be in Heaven because it is based on unconditional love guaranteed by the cross.

Religion says, I am not really confident Heaven is such a great place because I just don’t see God as really a loving being and maybe not all that capable of making it very good.
Relationship says, My true hope is in Heaven because I am confident that my all loving, all wise Heavenly Father wants good for me and can make a wonderful place for us to spend eternity together.

More details:
As a child should be learning to trust and obey, not out of blind faith or fear of consequences, but out of experienced faith that has seen that the wisdom of the parent really is greater than their own.  You should have read the The 6-year-old picture story by now.  The insightful 6-year-old understands that the parent was right, saving some is better than maximum immediate gratification.  Once the child recognizes that the parent is wiser and looking out for their best interest, they start to seek the parents counsel and are wisely influenced by that counsel.  They are literally likely to make major life decisions heavily influenced by factors the parents introduced to them.

The life lived in a trusting and active relationship with a wise and loving parent develops in the child what we call the 3 P’s:  Peace, Provision and Purpose.  Anyone that has the 3 P’s, regardless of their situation, has all they need to live a happy and fulfilled life.  The Spiritual Life 2.0 has:

  • Purpose:  We are all looking for what is our purpose.   People ask, “Why am I here?”  “What is this all about?”  Having purpose means you know why you are here on earth and what is your ultimate role in all this.  If we align our purpose with what God is doing, He provides the needs to fill it and we have the peace that comes from knowing He is willing and capable to complete anything set out to be done.
  • Provision:  Life under a good worldly parent means a life with worldly needs such as food and shelter are being met.  But God’s provision goes well beyond that.  When we trust in God for our provision, He not only meets that physically, but  also includes peace and purpose.
  • Peace:  This comes from being confident in your purpose and that you will have the provision you need both in worldly needs and the needs to complete your purpose.  God promises both of these as refenced below.

Matthew 6:33 (context is verses 25-32) says that if we “seek first” getting to know and trust our loving Heavenly Father and helping others to do the same, that He will meet our needs.  Psalms 37:4-5 also says that in a slightly different way.

  • Matthew 6:33  But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
    • “His kingdom” is the people around you
    • “His righteousness” is building the trusting loving character He is teaching us
    • “all these things” are our worldly (and spiritual) needs as noted in verses 25-32
  • Psalms 37:4-5  Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart.   Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, and He will do it.

Why does a good coach want respect?
Why does a good parent want respect?
Not primarily because they want the focus on them, but because they know that when we listen, we will learn and do better.  They don’t primarily want respect to have the light shine on them.  They want respect so that we can be better and do better.  God created a world with authority figures that bless us when we trust them.  Throughout the Bible, God has done that with His children – us.  Trusting a good parent, like trusting a good coach, is something we do because we believe doing so will put us in a better place.

Additional notes:

  • The spiritual battle.  With our 6-year-old example, the loving and wise parent wants the child to feel unconditional love and seeks to grow their maturity so they will have a better life.  But there may be other kids (or adults) that are messaging to the child they are inadequate or trying to corrupt them.  Similarly, there is an influence battle in our lives over whether to trust God or trust “self” and others the reject God.
  • The movies (e.g. Marvel Comics, Harry Potter, etc.) try to paint a picture of a fairly equal battle between good and evil with good barely winning out at the end.  There is purpose in allowing evil (as defined by God) to reign on this earth, but be clear that the end of story will be clear and decisive when it is time to end.
  • The basic battle of this life comes down to trusting/serving “self” vs trusting God and serving others.  Self-seeking is hollow and never lastingly fills.  When we trust God, we learn that is truly more fulfilling to give than to receive.
  • In Acts 8:3-4, we learn that the early Christians were greatly persecuted.  But they were also greatly confident because they had seen with their own eyes the actions of Jesus.  Reminder that the mess of this earth is not a surprise to God — it is part of a wise and loving plan.  As such, God carries us through the storm, not take us out of it.
  • Why is “serving God” a valuable thing?  People like contributing a bigger cause.  We donate to organizations that are having an impact bigger than what we can do on our own.  It is even more comforting knowing that someone else out there understands the details of what needs to be done and how to get it done.  God is executing a plan to grow the character of those that are wise enough to listen.  He is doing so in order to make eternity better than the mess we have here when “everyone does what is right in their own eyes.”  As with most forms of service, you don’t see and understand how rewarding being a part of what God is doing until you are doing it.

In summary:
The Spiritual Life 2.0 recognizes this world is not about completing religious rituals and then living life without deeper eternal purpose.  It is a life that recognizes there is a God and that God not only loves us, but is working a plan in this world with purpose for our good and wants us to be a part of that plan.  It is a life that is fulfilling more than this world can offer because it has both immediate benefit and eternal purpose, provision and peace this world cannot offer.  Reminder that this life is about learning to trust someone wiser than you even when you don’t understand them rather than trusting self.  Just as with the 6-year-old, the sooner we get to that point, the better off we will be.

The Spiritual Life 2.0 happens once someone realizes that being a part of what God is doing is far more interesting, rewarding and purposeful than the other stuff going on around us.  If you have seen The Matrix, it is as if you have taken the red pill.

Bible verses:

  • Romans 8:28  And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good…
  • Matthew 13:44-45 – When you find a priceless treasure, you do everything it takes to attain the valuable thing.
  • Matthew 13:24-30 (summarized):  A farmer planted wheat.  While sleeping, an adversary planted tares among the wheat (tares are weeds that look similar to wheat when young).  As the crop started to grow, the workers noticed signs of tares and asked if they should be pulled.  The farmer said no because they might pull wheat also.  He said to let things grow to maturity so that the wheat and tares were obvious.  Then it would be safe to separate and pull the tares.  (A parable where the enemy is Satan and the wheat and tares are people in their response to God.)
  • Ephesians 6:12:  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.