What Is The Spiritual Life?

I taught a Sunday School class recently at my church. The topic? "What Is The Spiritual Life?" I recorded the teaching and I'm including the mp3 from that talk in this blog post. I hope it will encourage you and challenge you to keep looking for God...

Download The Spiritual Life mp3 (44MB)

For help in following along with this talk, I have included my notes.


What the spiritual life is NOT:

The spiritual life is not...

• Pretending
• Neat, Tidy, or Clean
• A moment in time (i.e. “Arrival”)
• On a schedule
• Isolated
• Hidden
• Reserved for the Acceptable (It is not judgmental)
• Lived by many… (Matt. 7:13-15)

What the spiritual life IS:

The spiritual life IS...

• Connection with God…and others (Mk. 12:28-31)
• Honest
• Messy…very messy! (Delusional thinking; “Someday”)
• A journey
• Listening (“Ears with a heart”)
• Touching felt needs
• Different (i.e. “set apart”; offensive)
• Available to anyone!

The Spiritual Life is... "God in Brokenness"

So, the bottom line question becomes...

Are you engaged in Religion or Relationship?

Messy Spirituality

Just wanted to post a quick note to recommend a book I'm reading that really sums up so much of what true Christian spirituality is all about. Check out the book if you get the chance. Especially good book for those struggling with the idea of "church."

Messy Spirituality by Michael Yaconelli

(From the book cover)

Do you ever feel the following...

• I don't pray enough
• I don't read my Bible enough
• I don't share my faith enough
• I don't love God enough
• I'm not committed enough
• I'm not spiritual enough

If any of those statements represent something you feel from time to time, then this book will be a refreshing boost of encouragement to your soul. Come join those of us who unabashedly admit we don't have it all together, yet still love Jesus. We embrace you in this mess called life.

For those of you who read the book, send me an email with your thoughts or reviews. (jonathan@bebroken.com)

Blessings,

jonathan

The UGH Report

Well, I'm at it again. I just can't seem to get a handle on my ADD. Guess it's God's way of keeping me busy and out of trouble. I had "one of those moments" today. I seem to get inspired in unusual, yet simple ways. I was driving back to the office after enjoying lunch with my family when I had a crazy thought. Why not start a daily blog to respond to all the crazy, false, even silly news that pops up around the world? So, I've done it.

Say hello to The UGH Report. Have you ever read a news article or seen something that just made you say, "Ugh!" Well, that's where The UGH Report comes in. This daily blog will feature some absurd, unusual, or flat out false news story from somewhere around the globe. I will post this news item and then write a few lines in response to it.

What's the purpose of this blog? It's about starting dialogue with folks who otherwise wouldn't set eyeballs on any of our other sites (i.e. bebroken, menofpurity, hopecounseling, etc.). I want to launch a site that has the potential for getting people emotional, whether positively or negatively. I want a forum where people from around the world can start asking questions about life, God, truth, lies, whatever. Dialogue seems to be the doorway to change.

You can help get the dialogue started by submitting your "ugh-worthy" news stories to news@theughreport.com. The site is just now up and running.

Oh, by the way, I thought it was pretty cool that the name of the site fits pretty well with my last name - daUGHerty. Coincidence or a God-thing? Hmmm...

The site will soon be linked directly at www.theughreport.com. For now, the url is http://ughreport.blogspot.com. Still working out a few hosting issues. Once it's up, be sure to subscribe to the site feed, which will be updated daily.

Enjoy.

jonathan