Colossians 1:9-10 For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
If you were asked what it meant to be a spiritual person, what would be your response? For many people, we have defined certain concepts carnally and this is one of those words.
First of all, I want you to understand that a spiritual person is not defined by only things they do on the outside for all to see. If we aren’t careful, we will define some people as spiritual based only on things they show us. A while ago, I discovered that spiritual is a convergence of two words; Spirit and ritual. A ritual is basically a series of actions performed consistently. So when we merge these two words, a spiritual person does not just take actions on the outside to show spirituality. They do rituals or perform a series of actions but these rituals or actions come from the Spirit of God. They have their rooting in the Spirit.
Thinking about this gave me the difference between religion and spirituality.
Spiritual – ritual done by the Spirit. Religious – ritual done by the flesh.
What does this mean? It takes a lot more to define a person as spiritual because both religious and spiritual people may do almost the same things. For instance, a religious person could be prayerful and a spiritual person is also prayerful. The differentiating factor would be the understanding with which they perform that ritual or action of prayer. So a religious person would say they prayed for 5 hours so you know that they have also achieved a feat. A spiritual person prays because they genuinely want a relationship with God not to score points so they feel they deserve good things because they are very prayerful. It is usually a religious person who can make a statement like; I have been in this church before you came. They measure spirituality by age, experience, and time. That you are adding to your years or spending more time doesn’t equal progress. Haven’t you seen an older person and was amazed at how they reasoned? You thought they should know better just because they have lived on earth longer. No, it doesn’t work that way.
How did I arrive at this definition of spirituality? The opening scripture says it all. The prayer for the Colossians was that they would be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. So that what will happen? Three things will happen; verse 10 says that they may walk in a way that is worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, be fruitful in every good work, and increase in the knowledge of God. This means spirituality is not only defined by a series of actions. Your spirituality must affect the way you live whether in public or in private. The scripture also mentions being fruitful. We know the scripture that says, By their fruits, you shall know them. So God wants our spirituality to bear fruits. There must be an increase in the knowledge of the Person you claim to be serving not just pride in actions like praying, fasting, giving, and working in church. Because you could be doing all of that and not know the Person. Another emphasis is on the word ‘walk‘ from the phrase ‘walk in a way worthy of the Lord.’
This takes me to Galatians 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Another way to say this scripture in the context I have given so far is; Be Spiritual and not religious. To be spiritual is to Walk in the Spirit and fulfilling the lust of the flesh is to be religious. Again, let’s redefine ‘walking in the Spirit ‘ because to the average person, walking in the Spirit means behaving in a weird way. So for instance, if I close my eyes and start leaping, it means the Holy Spirit has come upon me. No, that’s not what it means to walk in the Spirit.
The word walk connotes movement. The first place we see movement is in Genesis 1:2 And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. It means the Spirit of God is a moving Spirit, that’s why we must also be moving or walking in the Spirit. Why does the Spirit move? So that we never say we have arrived and we always have to depend on Him for what to do next. If He was a static Spirit, then after a while, we could say we no longer need Him because we have discovered all that there is to Him.
The moving of the Spirit is to ensure a constant and consistent fellowship with God.
Still defining walking in the Spirit, we see in Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. Did you see that word again? ‘Walketh not’ in the counsel of the ungodly. This means how I walk is determined by the counsel I receive. In other words, if you really want to be spiritual or walk in the Spirit, you would need to assess your company, your friends, or those you listen to. Pushing it further, you need to assess those you follow on social media since we are in that age.
So you see that a spiritual person is not just the one who speaks in tongues, they are also mindful of who or what surrounds them. It doesn’t mean they are snobbish, they just choose to be influenced by the right kinds of people and they want to control what enters their atmosphere, environment, or space.
A final definition of a spiritual person I would give is that this is a person who gives place to God’s Word in their life. This also means walking in the Spirit can be defined as living by the Word. This is the true marker of maturity; not age, experience, or time as I mentioned earlier. 1 Peter 2:2 As newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: So, the Word is what makes us grow or mature. In the verse before this, the Bible says, Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings. This means anyone who doesn’t feed on the Word to grow would automatically be doing these things. Have you seen people who can pray very well and yet do the things he mentioned in verse 1? This is why spirituality cannot only be defined by a series of actions but a lifestyle that is based on what the Word says.
A series of actions can be faked but a lifestyle cannot be faked.
The Word In Clarity 