Here’s a good way to start out 2011 – what distraction do you see coming to your spiritual life and growth this year?
Poll: The Biggest Distraction to Your Spiritual Life
January 5, 2011 by ctygrett
January 5, 2011 by ctygrett
Here’s a good way to start out 2011 – what distraction do you see coming to your spiritual life and growth this year?
You can only pick one?
The constant parade of new books, DVDs and ‘tools’ created by experts to help with my spiritual development.
I’m really sick of authors, speakers and experts getting in the way of God’s word, plainly read in His Bible.
I like the thought Mark, but let me play devil’s advocate for a moment. Where does that leave preaching today? Is it still valuable or is it starting to become a distraction? Should I have included “celebrity preachers” in the survey?
I think there is, because of Jesus coming in the flesh to “translate” God’s word in to real life, a strong place for preaching and teaching by individuals in a variety of mediums (or else I’d bail on the blog! ha!) so that we can not only celebrate the Word, but also be penetrated and transformed by it as we hear it presented and prepare to present it.
would love to hear your thoughts! thanks for the comment!
Preaching from God’s Word will NEVER be a distraction. The problem comes from preaching that comes more from the speaker’s mind than from the Holy Spirit. Especially when you are encouraged to buy the book and video series that goes along with the sermon. Oh, and here’s a new online resource to help you fix what you’ve been doing wrong all along.
It seems that there are a lot of voices these days that seek to replace simple meditation on God’s Word and prayer with Steps to follow, Online resources and social networks to keep updated, and techniques based on human psychological methods of questionable lineage.
I am all in favor of new approaches to bringing the message to those who have never heard it before. But after that, nothing is better for growing closer to Jesus, learning to rely on Him and do as He would have us do than prayer and meditating on His word, alone.
I’m also in favor of online communities, in addition to, not instead of, a strong local church connection. But time spent talking to people ABOUT spiritual growth is not the same as time spent GROWING spiritually. I hope that is clear. I’m still working these thoughts out for myself.
What about community? Isn’t community essential to understanding God’s word? I think it is scary to think we should be relying soley on God’s word and prayer to provide our spiritual development. While they are essential to our spiritual life they need to be found within our Christian community. Otherwise we have people coming out and yelling ‘God hates fags’ and ‘God hates women because they wear pants’
And yes I have personally seen both signs waved in public. I don’t think networking is bad. I don’t think books are bad. I think the way we treat these tools determines whether our spirituality is deep or shallow. I grew up in a networking community and now I live in a town of 3000 and I am a preacher’s wife. The culture is definitley different and most things that worked for my home church will NOT work for our little church, but I do see a similairty and that is discussing and living our spirituality our within in our community. Plus can’t the Holy Spirit use anything. Lets not forget that everything preaches. If we are looking for the Spirit to move He will.
Without our community spirituality we become isolated and sin seeps into our lives unannounced.
Mark, please don’t let your burn out on authors and big church antics effect sharing your spiritual life with those in your community. You will be doing yourself and your community a diservice by relying soley on scripture and prayer.
In the end I think that theological perspective is unbiblical. You cannot grow on your own.
Alison,
Please don’t misunderstand. I am entirely FOR community. But Spiritual Growth is not a community activity; it’s accomplished in the quiet places. The original discussion was around the things which DISTRACT from spiritial growth. For me, it’s been things like “15 steps towards a better prayer life”, or “Better Fitness, Better Faith”
It’s also not about ‘Big Church’ shenanigans, whatever that means. I belong to a large, non-denominational church, and I love it. I love the teaching from our pastors and leaders, the worship experience and the community. Our small groups and serving opportunities provide the intimacy and closeness that I had feared would be lacking in a very large church.
I’m just a little tired of Pop psychology and a sort of business productivity seminar approach that I have seen in some nationally known speakers and church movements. Some of this might be effective as sweet gravy, to attract a seeker. But at some point you have to add meat and potatoes, and there is no choice for the believer. If you want to grow spiritually, you have to learn to chew and swallow. It’s hard to do that if your checklist is longer than “Pray. Read. Ponder. Repeat.” Pondering should certainly include your small group or your family. Reading can include preaching, but that is where the discernment needs to be very high. Even the best , most Godly preachers can slip away from the spirit and into their own flesh. This tendency is compounded when selling a book of teachings that requires a catch title to make it jump out from the shelves.
I don’t have it all worked out. I’ve seen how good teaching can be twisted into bad results, simply because getting back into the plain reading of Scripture with the Holy Spirit’s guidance was left out. I am going to my usual Friday night Celebrate Recovery event, where I expect I will hear some good teaching from a nationally known preacher, and it will be good. But it will be best for my spiritual growth if I then re-read the Bible passages on my own, and not worry about which reading plan I should follow.
great points, Mark and Alison.
Mark, I would also say that there has been a superstar-izing of personalities in the church. Why do certain pastors speak at conferences and not others? It can be both distracting and unhelpful.
However, the joy of community is that spiritual growth does not come naturally to people. It doesn’t matter at what stage you are in your growth, it isn’t a natural fit, like a shoe in just your size. You have to learn about what fit feels like, what fit is not, etc.
Alison’s point is that some of the worst heresies in the history of the world have begun with someone moving out of an accountable context and into their own world of interpretation. I struggle most with re-educating people on what Scripture is saying after they have been invested in the “what-it-means-to-me” practice for a long time.
I like your passion for purity and Scripture alone, but at some point even our interpretations are conditioned by our community (i.e. the rapture, women in leadership of the church, etc.) and not necessarily on things that matter, per se.
Keep your passion, definitely, and look for the non-distracting paths. Return to the quiet places, but realize that Jesus moved from the quiet places back into community and the crowd to have his lessons in solitude tested and fortified. (Luke 5 is a great example, before and after verse 16).
peace