Basketball and Spirituality

I’ve been thinking about what makes a person spiritual. As Christians we talk a lot about being spiritual as opposed to carnal or worldly. So what does make one spiritual? What does it mean to be spiritually mature?
I think that most of us think of being spiritual as something we do. I know I have. Everyone has there own ideas of what that might be. We have our lists of dos and don’ts, of those things that are taboo and that are acceptable. But, we are wrong.
Let me illustrate my point. Let us say that I decide to challenge my friend Craig to a game of basketball. Craig is an outstanding basketball player. So let us suspend reality for a moment and say I feel suicidal enough to play him at the game. What is going to be the outcome? He is going to kill me of course.
After the game I say to him, “Craig, you’re a good ball player, how can I improve my game to compete with you?” So he responds, “I noticed that you had a hard time keeping up with me. You were breathing hard and you look like you are about to die. I think you need to lose a few pounds and get in shape.”
So I take his advice and start dieting and working out. I do this for a year. At the end of the year I challenge Craig to another game. What do you suppose will happen? He is going to kill me of course. Why?
The answer is that in that whole year I haven’t practiced basketball. To be good at basketball requires a lot more than just eating right and being in great shape. Those things may be necessary to help make practicing basketball easier but they are not the game of basketball. So it is with spirituality.
We have our list of dos and don’ts and we think that by doing them we are being spiritual. But we are wrong. The list may be necessary but they are not spirituality itself.
So what does it mean to be spiritual then? What being spiritual means is that I am living my life moment to moment trusting in and depending on Jesus Christ. Trusting in Christ is what being spiritual is about. It is the game of basketball.
I see three types of actions that relate to being spiritual (that is to say, consistently trusting Christ). The first two are prior to spirituality (in a logical sense not in a chronological sense) and the third results from spirituality.
The two actions that are prior to spirituality are lists of dos and don’ts and amount to eating right and working out from our illustration. As we said earlier, they may be necessary to help make it easier for us to trust Christ but they are not in themselves the act of trusting Christ.
Rather than just keep calling them dos and don’ts we should go further and define them. The don’ts are basically our rejection and abstinence from anything that might cause us to trust in something other than in Christ. It may also take the form of regulating something that would steal my attention away from Christ.
The dos are the things in our life that we need to help promote our trust in Christ. They are the activities, experiences, and practices that we should not only receive into our lives but also cultivate.
We could call these dos and don’ts “promoting” and “protecting” faith. The act of promoting supplies a foundation and support for faith. It creates an atmosphere of activity that will make it possible for our faith to be produced and nurtured.
The act of protecting involves those acts that shield our faith by removing or limiting activities that might prove harmful. It provides an environment that protects our faith from being damaged or killed.
Both of the acts of promoting and protecting can be broken down into two categories – biblically mandated and personally mandated. Those that are biblically mandated would be those things that we are clearly told in Scripture such as gathering with a local church, prayer, Bible study, and not participating in those acts that Scripture clearly calls sin. However, we should never believe that just because they are biblically required that we are spiritual because of the mere act of doing them. Because they are biblically mandated then they are universally required for all Christians and there is never a time or place that we would be exempt from them.
There are also some dos and don’ts that are personally mandated. These would be those things that are personal convictions. They are those things that that person believes to be best for him to counteract temptations that he maybe dealing with. They might be things like not drinking alcohol, not watching rated R movies, not celebrating certain holidays, or not participating in certain holiday customs.
However, because they are personally mandated they do not apply to everyone. If I do not struggle with the same temptation that you do then why should I be subject to the same restrictions that you have placed on yourself. I have never struggled with the temptation of drunkenness nor of trusting in wine for my happiness. So why should I place the restriction of never drinking wine on myself. To hold everyone to a personal mandate is the epitome of legalism and the heresy of the Pharisees.
The third action that is related to spirituality (Trusting Christ) is that which results from spirituality, its fruit. So what does trusting in Christ moment to moment produce? To give a general answer it produces obedience. Obedience to what? Obedience to the commands of God. To give a more specific answer, it produces righteousness. After all, righteousness is doing what God has commanded. But what has God commanded?
To give the most specific answer I can to the original question (what does trusting in Christ moment to moment produce?) and to the more immediate question (what has God commanded?) I must say that the answer is love. Trusting in Christ produces love. Every commandment of Scripture relates to love. Trusting Christ produces a supreme love for God, love of neighbor, and love for our fellow Christians. Love for God is the foundation for our love of neighbor and love for fellow Christians.
Therefore it is not the practice of dos and don’ts that give us the evidence for spirituality. It is the practice of love that demonstrates that we are spiritual.