Spirituality ... have you ‘got it?’

Remember one of the first haunting questions recorded in the Bible, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Cain was asking it of God after the former had committed the first murder. It should have been a tip off. The whereabouts and circumstances of our brothers and sisters matter greatly to God.

Throughout the reading of the Old and New Testaments, one gets the idea that relationships count a whole heap to God. The Apostle Peter, under the inspiration of the Spirit, even declared that a husband’s prayers were effective on the basis of his proper and righteous relationship to his wife.

“You husbands ... live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered” (1 Peter 3:7).

Although many expositors take this text and deal with the particulars of husband/wife relationship, I see imbedded in the text a principle that pervades the entire Bible: spirituality depends upon relationship.

You may be able to read the Bible backwards, speak in several heavenly tongues, be anointed as prophet, or teacher, but lack relational strength with intimate relatives or with strangers, then don’t try to impress others with your spirituality. You “ain’t” got it.

You can do a lot of spiritual things, but not be spiritual. God places a high premium on our relationships. Perhaps it’s because he made all of us in his image and just can’t approve of us treating one another as trash. The high value God places on our relationship is that he just won’t listen to our prayers when our relationships are out of sorts.

This principle may be responsible for some (not all) seeking the monastic lifestyle. How many of us could be better Christians if we just didn’t have to deal with people?

I see people in and around the church all the time who want a vital, blessed spirituality, but do not comprehend the connection between spirituality and relationships. They can be a candidate for the office of teacher, deacon, or elder and yet call their spouse, “old lady” or “old man.” It’s incongruent!

I believe we in the church have replaced the Bible’s preeminent emphasis on relationship with something else like emphases on gifts, anointings, prayer ministries, and teaching the Word of God. As a result, we have begun to measure our own spirituality by these outward signs. He who can quote more Scriptures is the spiritual giant, one might speculate. Or, the guy who can pray like Peter Marshall (renowned former chaplain of the U. S. Senate) is really spiritual.

The church needs a relational revolution whose essence is love.