Everyday Christianity: Spiritual Life (2)
One thing I have desired of the LORD,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the LORD
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the LORD,
And to inquire in His temple. Psalm 27.4
The Christian’s calling
The Christian’s calling, every day and in all that we do, is to a life oriented to, focused on, sustained by, and expressive of Jesus Christ, the risen and exalted Son of God, King of kings, and Lord of lords. What a high privilege and glorious calling!
True spirituality begins here; anything less than this is something other than Christian discipleship. Christian discipleship means practicing the Kingship of Jesus in every area of our lives, seeking and advancing His Kingdom, growing in His grace, and living as His disciples and witnesses.
This understanding will grow and expand as our relationship with the Lord grows, so that while we can always realize more of the life to which we are called, we can never exhaust its riches fully.
It is not enough to know what the spiritual life is all about, nor even to continue accumulating information and insights concerning its nature. We must indeed labor to realize the mind of Christ in all we do; our mindset should always be to think as Jesus would think. But unless we truly depend on the Lord to empower us to live the spiritual life, all our knowledge about it will be little more than intellectual trimmings to an empty and unfruitful existence.
And for this, we need to make sure our heart is right. What we know about the Lord must lead us to trust in and depend on Him for all things. Apart from Him we can do nothing; but with Him and by His power, nothing will be impossible for us. We must begin each day in an attitude of dependence on the Lord.
And depending on the Lord begins with desiring the spiritual life above all else. Depending on the Lord requires a heartset to go with our Christian mindset.
One thing
The apostle Paul expressed the same idea as King David when he wrote, “but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3.13, 14). He went on to add that this is the way mature believers think about their lives. Their mindset and heartset have the same objective: to know, love, and serve our Lord Jesus Christ.
We must decide whether such a life of looking to Jesus, being filled with Jesus and transformed into the image of Jesus is what we really want in life, today and every day. The struggles, afflictions and work of the day ahead demand more than just knowing about Jesus and His Word. Only as we delight in Him and desire His Presence will we have the strength of heart to match our strength of mind in serving the Lord.
We must work at this, as at all aspects of our salvation (Phil. 2.12). Many worldly distractions and diversions will clamor for our attention, time, and strength throughout each day. Spiritual forces of wickedness in high places whisper subtle lies into our soul, suggesting that we don’t want to be religious fanatics and that, after all, no one else seems to be all that serious about living the spiritual life. And this—wherever we may be—is neither the place nor time for Jesus talk.
Moreover, our secular age does not understand this calling and prefers not to be reminded of it, especially not in public places.
The challenge to us, every day, is to anticipate such situations and conditions and to set our mind and heart—our desires—on serving Jesus in all we do. This requires daily renewal in the Word and promises of God, and resuming our conversation and communion with the Lord in prayer.
Desiring the spiritual life
We will engage the spiritual life to which we’ve been called when, focused on Jesus and resting in Him, we desire this life as the defining mark of our experience in the world. And the more we desire the spiritual life, the more we will depend on the Lord to deliver it. And He will deliver it, so that we appear as salt, light, and leaven to people around us, living a hope they do not understand and ready with a Word that might change their lives.
Desiring the spiritual life begins and grows by contemplating the beauty of the Lord, tasting of the joy and pleasure that are to be found in His Presence (Ps. 16.11). Desire for the Lord grows through time spent with Him, and all such time spent with Him increases our trust in Him and, hence, our dependence on Him and His Word. Thus we come to know the riches of His love and power, working down into our souls and coming to expression in our lives (Rom. 11.33-36; Eph. 3.20; Jn. 7.37-39).
But we must make up our minds that this—this life of following Jesus—is what we desire above anything and everything else. Every day. The rich young ruler, we recall, turned away from Jesus because he was still trusting in his considerable wealth and worldly interests. “Near to the Kingdom” is as close as he came.
We can make progress in the spiritual life, desiring the Lord more than the things of this world, when we renew each day as His followers, witnesses, and servants—when our heartset moves us to live out our calling to follow Jesus.
For reflection or discussion
1. What do we mean by “heartset”? Why must we have this as well as a proper mindset?
2. What happens when our heartset strays from desiring the beauty of the Lord?
3. How can believers encourage and assist one another in maintaining a proper heartset?
Next steps—Transformation: How would you describe your heartset at the beginning of a typical day? Take steps to make sure your desires are for Jesus before and above everything else, every day—starting today.
T. M. Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment to give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
A spiritual life is a disciplined life in every facet. How does this work out? Our book, A Disciplined Life, can help you review and improve your own disciplines toward a more robust walk with and work for the Lord. For a free PDF of The Disciplined Life, click here.
Other columns of interest: This week: Our Read Moore podcast features excerpts from the book, Patrick: A Devotional History. Our Crosfigell teaching letter is pursuing a series on the spiritual poetry of the Celtic Revival.. Click here to see all the other columns and writers available to you.
And please prayerfully consider supporting The Fellowship of Ailbe with your prayers and gifts. You can contribute online, via PayPal or Anedot, or by sending a gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, P. O. Box 8213, Essex, VT 05451.Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
