True Spirituality

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Meditation is a shortcut to understanding spirituality. Words cannot come close to describing the feelings that the inner being is able to produce, it must be felt on your own. Meditation helps you remember what has always been. Spirituality is the most important thing in life. Finding peace, happiness and fulfillment is what this journey is about. My wishes went unanswered as my childhood depression lasted until my early 20s. Years of questioning my reality, my purpose, experimenting, it all culminated in me realizing what matters most.

My spirituality stems from a childhood of depression, anxiety, and loneliness. I had good parents, food, and shelter. My existence was torture, I couldn’t bear to be alive. Research has shown that religion and spirituality can help people cope with the effects of everyday stress. One study found that everyday spiritual experiences helped older adults better cope with negative feelings, and enhanced positive feelings.Sanctification, according to Schaeffer, is a moment-by-moment dependence on God. It’s an internal reality, not an external gesture. True sanctification is marked by “active passivity”—by opening our hands in faith for God to use us as vehicles for his purposes (93). It’s you, me, the moon, the stars, the grass, the wind, the ocean. Everything is connected. Spirituality is reconnecting with this wholeness that has always been. In contemporary society, Christian spirituality is generally defined as a set of beliefs, values, and way of life that reflect the teachings of the Bible, the holy book of Christianity. Much research has been devoted to this topic, ranging from practical to academic. But what does the Bible teach on this issue? urn:oclc:779107993 Scandate 20100419181337 Scanner scribe9.sanfrancisco.archive.org Scanningcenter sanfrancisco Worldcat (source edition) Likewise, the Christian life (true spirituality) is not to be seen as “outward” at all, but as “inward.” The climax of the Ten Commandments is the Tenth Commandment – “Thou shat not covet” – this commandment is an entirely inward thing. Actually, we break this commandment before we break any of the others. Paul states very clearly in Romans that this was the commandment which gave him a “sense of being sinful” – “I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have knownabout coveting if the Law had not said, ‘ You shall not covet.’ But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind” (Rom 7:7-8). What Paul is saying here is this:“I did not know I was a sinner; I thought I would come out all right, because I was keeping these outward things and was doing well in comparison with other people.” He had been measuring himself against the externalized form of the commandments which the Jews had in their tradition. But when he opened the Ten Commandments and read that the last commandment was not to covet, he saw he was a “sinner.”

Realize that the eternal connectedness is already here. Nothing needs to be done, only to become aware of it again. A Few Final Words Martin Luther, in his commentary on Galatians, shows a great understanding of the fact that our salvation includes salvation from the “bondage of our conscience.” It is natural and right that as we become Christians our consciences become ever more tender – this is a work of the Holy Spirit. But we should not be downcast by our conscience year after year over sins which are past. When your conscience, by the Holy Spirit, makes you aware of a specific sin, you should at once call that sin“sin” and bring it consciously under the blood of Christ – when you do this it is then “covered,” so by continuing to “worry about it,” you not only dishonor the finished work of Christ, but you impair your relationship with God, either by thinking that you must “suffer sufficiently” to merit his forgiveness, or by “doubting” that God is that loving and merciful – hence, your fellowship with Him is short-circuited. Writes Schaeffer: “To worry about it is to do despite to the infinite value of the death of the Son of God.” As you consciously say, “Thank you” to God for a completed work, your conscience should come into rest. By applying the blood of Christ to your sin, your fellowship experience with God is restored. He was talking about a life filled with the Holy Spirit. He was talking about an ongoing experience or walk with God through the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who opens our eyes to know the deep things of God more and more (1 Cor. 2:10-13). It is the Holy Spirit who sheds the love of God in our hearts (Rom. 5:5). It is the Holy Spirit who pulls us deeper and deeper into relationship with Jesus (1 John 2:12-14), if we want to grow.The book concludes with a call to take the transformative power to the whole world: “Having come this far, true spirituality—the Christian life—flows into the total culture” (256). Schaeffer clearly believes true dependence on Christ has substantial implications for all of life. Research shows that older women are more grateful to God than older men, and they receive greater ​stress-buffering health effects due to this gratitude.