{"id":366,"date":"2018-12-05T09:44:19","date_gmt":"2018-12-05T17:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/migrate.bettersermons.org\/?p=366"},"modified":"2020-06-01T11:39:32","modified_gmt":"2020-06-01T18:39:32","slug":"true-spirituality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/true-spirituality\/","title":{"rendered":"True Spirituality"},"content":{"rendered":"
True Spirituality<\/span><\/div>\n

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“Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian anymore than going to a garage makes you an automobile.”
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\n–Billy Sunday<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Some people equate spirituality with going to church. They assume that if one goes to church\u00a0he or she\u00a0must be “right with God.” Why else would\u00a0they go? Unfortunately, this very thinking is what keeps many people from going to church. They reason that church is only for those who “have it together.” If that were really the case, no one would be eligible to attend. The only\u00a0specimens of Christianity who are finished with their journey are asleep in their graves. Everyone else is\u00a0on the guerrilla-besieged battlefield of life.\u00a0Actually, churches are more like hospitals than country clubs. They exist to administer healing and encouragement to those who are ravaged and broken.<\/p>\n

Whoever came up with the idea that churches should be spiritual utopias needs to re-connect with reality. Of course\u00a0we should expect to find more good than evil in churches, but we should not be surprised to also find evil lurking through its halls and board rooms.<\/p>\n

In his book,\u00a0Swimming Against the Current,<\/em>\u00a0author, Chris Blake says, “‘Going to church’ is primarily important because it\u00a0enables us to become better lovers in realms where people can be reached. The week doesn’t prepare us for the Sabbath as much as the Sabbath prepares us for the week.” In other words, true spirituality is not defined by what happens inside the walls of a church as much as by what happens when we leave it. Do we treat our families, co-workers and strangers with compassion and mercy? Do we stand up for justice whenever we can?<\/p>\n

“But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do,\u00a0what God is looking for in men and women. It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor,\u00a0be compassionate and loyal in your love, and don’t take yourself too seriously\u2014take God seriously.” Micah 6:8 (The Message)<\/em>
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Comments by Rich DuBose.\u00a0BetterSermons \u00a9 2009. All rights reserved. Use of this material is subject tousage guidelines<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0View main index<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>
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\n1.\u00a0Swimming Against the Current,<\/em>\u00a0Chris Blake, Pacific Press. 2007, p. 54.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

True Spirituality “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian anymore than going to a garage makes you an automobile.” –Billy Sunday Some people equate spirituality with going to church. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":367,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366\/revisions\/367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}