We Don't Become More Spiritual By Becoming Less Human

Sharon and I are currently in a Life Group that is working through Pete Scazzero's book, "Emotionally Healthy Spirituality." (Some of you thought I was joking when I referred to this earlier.) His thesis is that "it is impossible to be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature." If you've been around church for more than about 6 months, you know this is true. When was the last time you heard that a church had an argument or split over a central doctrine such as the divinity of Christ, the substitutionary atonement, or the immutability of God. (It does happen, but seldom in our culture.) No, most often it is because one or more of those who attend the church have gotten their feelings hurt by someone else (This is not new, of course, read Philippians 4:2-3) or no one noticed their sacrifice of time or the pastor doesn't feel appreciated or supported. These are emotional issues with spiritual implications. These situations are, at their core, discipleship issues. Allowing God to do the work in us that allows us to respond in godly ways, or at least come back to apologize for not acting godly initially, are both spiritual and emotional.

In his latest book, Eugene Peterson addresses the same issue, but from a different angle. In his chapter on Luke 11:1-13 he writes:

"Life is personal. By definition. All parts of it...When any one of us quits being personally present to our child, our spouse, or our friend, life leaks out...Jesus is our primary revelation that God is personal, extravagantly personal...What the biblical revelation tells us...is that we can't become more like Jesus (more pleasing or acceptable to God) by becoming less human, less physical, less emotional, less involved with our families, less associated with socially or morally undesirable people. We don't become more spiritual by becoming less human."

When did we, as a Christian subculture, allow this first century heresy to creep back in? It's time we recognized that our redemption is about ALL the areas of our life. We focus on giving up smoking or swearing while God calls us to give up anger and causing trouble among the family of God. Maybe its because smoking and swearing are easier to spot that we focus on the externals. Or maybe its because we find ways to rationalize our anger as "righteous indignation." Or maybe its because we can point to Jesus' attitude when he cleared the Temple courtyard that we can justify our behavior. Maybe its because we can claim our trouble making is really just "standing for the truth."

Whatever it is, we need to invite the Holy Spirit to do a more complete work in us. Or is it just in me? Sorry, I didn't mean to judge. I forgot you have this stuff all figured out. Well, you can pray for me. I'm still having a hard time letting God work in these areas of emotionally healthy spirituality.