Discover Your Soul's Path to GodНамуна

Have you heard these words? “If you want to grow as a Christian, all you have to do is develop a quiet time and come to church every weekend.” With perhaps good intentions (who would oppose regular personal worship, prayer, and Bible study?), we have reduced the devotional life to rote exercise. The casualties of “mechanized religion” are many. It’s one thing to witness spiritually empty people outside the church; it’s even sadder to see Christians inside the church who suffer with this same spiritual emptiness.

Many Christians have found the traditional quiet time to be somewhat helpful in starting up a life of devotion, but admit that the routine of their devotions has made them seem more like an obligation than a delight. Their love for God has not dimmed; they’ve just fallen into a soul-numbing rut as they wonder, Is this really all there is to knowing God? 

Just getting out of our routines can sometimes generate new enthusiasm. While the discipline of a quiet time is helpful, it may not be sufficient. God created you with a certain personality and a certain spiritual temperament. He wants your worship, according to the way he made you. He wants to interact with the real you, so don’t be intimidated by others’ expectations of how you should relate to God. 

We should be cautious in the individual approach to spirituality. It is neither wise nor scriptural to solely pursue God apart from the community of faith. Our individual expressions of faith should be joined to corporate worship with the body of Christ. Fortunately, over its nearly two thousand years of history, the church has provided us with rich and varied traditions of loving God. Christians have found intimacy with God by studying church history or theology, by singing or reading hymns, by dancing, by walking in the woods. Each practice awakened different people to a new sense of spiritual vitality, and something was touched in them that had never been touched before.

Your spiritual temperament forms the basis for how you relate to God. Understanding this will help you develop your personal, one-to-one connection in drawing near to him. God is always the same, but there are many different and acceptable ways of demonstrating our love for God. Our temperaments will cause us to be more comfortable in some of these expressions than others—and that is perfectly acceptable to God. In fact, by worshiping God according to the way he made us, we are affirming his work as Creator. God has given us different personalities and temperaments. It’s only natural that these differences should be reflected in our worship; and we can explore expressions of worship that we haven’t been exposed to in order to grow in our adoration of God and relate to other Christians’ expressions.

Respond

What disciplines have you used to help you grow in your faith?

What expressions of worship have you experienced that best connect you with God?

How might your spiritual temperament influence meaningful expressions of worship and the quality of your connection with God?