Climbing the Spiritual Ladder

I come back to this topic again and again, how do I obtain spiritual health? I’ve talked about what the Bible says about it, I’ve brought up perspectives of what the social images of it are or are not. I have even talked about ways that individuals can experience spiritual health. What do you think it means to have this kind of health? Do you even think it is important for us to obtain or strive for? (Please, leave your comments)

I could create a list of items or exercises that you could use to gain spiritual health. All of them would work to some degree. It leaves me wondering though if I did this for you what would it accomplish in your life? Would you decide, like we often do on New Year’s Eve, to commit to becoming more spiritually healthy? How long would that last, a few weeks, months? Would it become a habit and regular practice?

In the last six years, I have completed a religion degree in Divinity and Chaplaincy. I have specialized skills to work with individuals from a Christian perspective. My prayer life is still about the way it was when I began this journey. There are some exceptions but basically, I did not make radical changes. At least not in my practice of religion or faith. Yet, I can attest to my level of peace shifting radically. I can also share with you that I recognize a downward spiral in my spirit and an understanding for how to alter that sensation.

So, what is the mystery? Did I get more faith from attending seminary? Did the education that I gained develop in me a more spiritual being and a deeper connection with God? What do you think? Oh, my friend, I hope you answered that with a serious NO WAY! I did learn exercises and spiritual disciplines. I did learn how to assess spiritual unrest or lack of spiritual well-being, but we don’t need to understand these things to gain a richer spiritual life.

My next comment might surprise you and maybe not in a good way, but I hope you won’t close the app before you finish what I have to say. We also don’t need just Jesus to get us to a better place. I’ve been reading a book recently about the faith journey of a young man named Andy Cochran, A Journey Beyond Comparison. In his book, he mentions the idea of Jesus’ yoke not being a place of rest but of a place of rest while we work. I love this because it echoes my belief that while Christ orchestrates our lives, while he alone grants us peace, while all that we have is gifted to us by him, he does not ever ask us to sit back and do nothing.

Look at the Apostles of Christ, they travelled great geographical distances regularly, they constantly had to seek out financial backing, they spent countless hours sharing the gospel message not just to unbelievers but to the new churches sprouting up everywhere. So, when it comes to spiritual well-being the same is true, it is not just Jesus but a focus on doing life around Jesus as our locus points. There is this constant movement in our life back and forth between that place in which our life connects with Jesus. It is not just doing life then coming to him in prayer. It is living from a perspective in which he drives all that we do. Sometimes that means we have to be quiet.

When we are in this place of rest is where we hear him, where we meet him face-to-face with respect and love, where he guides us, and where he lifts the weight of life from our shoulders and places the bulk of it on his own.

You see there is no Spiritual ladder that needs to be climbed. There is no security in doing the job right. I have several books and spiritual disciplines that I teach individuals. In a way it feels like a 12-step program only it is lacking several steps and there is no one way to accomplish the final goal. Relinquishing sin, perseverance, forgiving self and others, centering prayers, and being grounded in scripture are only portions of the whole. Meditating on God near a body of water or in the middle of the quietness of the woods are only changes in location. At the core of any spiritual discipline must sit the One from whom all peace flows.

In your search ask yourself how Christ is defined in your life? Ask how you engage with him, and in what ways your life finds its roots in him. Then trust him to strengthen you as you continue to shift your life so that all of you is centered around all of him.

-blessings