Spirituality Counts!
Spirituality matters! We find ourselves in a generation where young people are thinking less about their spirituality and more about gathering physical wares.
The human body isn’t just about our physical outlook, something inside us gives our physical body the feel that we get. This is our spirit. Death happens when the spirit considers the body too weak to carry it.
Just as we feed our body to make it grow, our spirit has to be fed to make it grow correctly. Our spiritual aura or essence is a result of how much into our spirit we have fed it and it in turn affects how our physical aura appears. To therefore sustain a good physical ambience, it is important to give good thoughts to your spiritual matter.
Our spiritual formation begins from childhood through the years as we grow. We however develop that independent crave for our spirituality in our late teens into our twenties. We begin a search for our own spiritual fulfillment away from the ones we have grown with through the years right into our thirties.
You might have found yourself in such a situation, but you don’t have to be afraid. This phase has happened to every young person I’ve known. I grew up in a strong Holiness Pentecostal Church and I remember all my friends growing up as kids in that church. They had all left the church before we got to fifteen. They had headed to other churches where they thought they could connect spiritually with. The ratio of those who stayed back at that my church was only a tiny percent.
Man is in constant search for that place where his spirit can find the correct spiritual food for his mental development. I’ve had to get on this search too, having to leave my childhood church to several other churches just so that that spiritual side of me could find relevance.
The plethora of religious units scattered across the world could leave a sincere seeker confused about which one is best and which one is not.
People have several reasons for changing religion or religious beliefs. It could be that constant feeling of emptiness that no matter how hard you try, you don’t seem to fill that void where you are. It may also be the need to aspire towards something new that where you are do not give you the opportunity to pursue. It could also be God’s direction to move. Sometimes it could be because you’ve married and you have to move with your spouse.
Whatever reason that gets you moving, others have moved too. You can’t blame yourself for moving! However at forty, you don’t want to still be moving. You want to have had that spiritual stability from the decision you’ve made to settle somewhere.
Any religion you choose to associate with should be because you have obtained satisfaction and have absolute believe in the principles that work there. You should also have seen the principles work with you.
You are not designed to stay put at one religion through your lifetime, even if you grew up in one.
Perhaps you have a family church or you’ve heard some person say, it’s my family church, my grandfather attended the church, my parents did and we are attending the church. Well, if the church still meets your spiritual needs, its fine and alright to change there and grow. But you must not stay put in a place that does not guarantee your spiritual development just because you have a strong family connection.
An uncle of mine who had a staunch Catholics background and whose family had produced a reverend father told me he was considering moving on to the Pentecostal side of his religion but he was not sure how he would be received by his siblings; and this my uncle was around forty five when he told me this.
I was amazed that at forty five, he was still unsure what direction he had to take to build his spirituality. He had had this leading to tow a different path since his thirties but he never did until when he told me this. I told him that if God was telling him to get out, he had to get out as soon as possible to fulfill the purpose of God for his life. I have no liking for those who stick to practices just because it’s been that way for generations. If it doesn’t suit you, move on to something that suites.
Most people around you have had to move to religions where they felt safe and secure in. some who were Christians have become Muslims, and those who were Muslims have become Christians. And many have moved to religions like Eckankar, Buddhism, Shinko etc. some didn’t change religion but they changed the stand of the particular religion they were involved with like moving from catholic to Pentecostalism or Baptist. If you think you have to move, you aren’t one of a kind.
Some persons follow a religion because their friend brought them in. You may say “he is a good friend, I don’t want to lose his friendship”, but you don’t feel great where you are. Please find the exit door. It’s your life that matters here. If you are not satisfied with the results you are getting with your life in a particular place, get out by all means.
I have attended churches that put premium on the death of members more than when they are living. Imagine a pastor telling you that when you die, the church would not come to your burial. When you are alive and need food and healthcare, they do not show face. If you enter a church that does not care for your physical welfare as much as your spiritual welfare, that’s no church. No religious organization should bear the tag of “organization that buried you” when they were not an “organization that cared”.
Spiritual stability is important as you step into your forties because it gives you the leverage to benefit from what spiritual decisions you have signed in for, if at all there are benefits. By all means, you should have seen benefits before you decided to commit yourself.
For some persons, the reason they move from one religion to another is the challenges of life. Sometimes when you get overwhelmed, you could be dragged to places you should never have entered. Challenges have the capacity to break our defense system sometimes, but you should be able to define the stakes even when you are faced with challenges.
Young people join cults or are initiated into groups that they never thought they’d join and they regret making such decisions. They got caught unawares by their challenges and they were deceived by friends who led them astray.
You have to be careful about how your friends show you the way. Ask where they are taking you to before you join them. Everyone who joins a cult joined because of some person.
Be deliberate in your search. Have a definition of what you want in a religious organization that you want to be part of. By all means, if you are choosing to connect with a particular group, it must be because your spiritual appetite is been filled. It matters!
We aren’t called to the same degree of spirituality but we are called to a certain level of fulfillment with our spirituality. Here’s why some persons will be pastors, workers, laymen etc. whatever situation position we find ourselves, our spirituality is meant to grow! If our spirituality stays at the same level year after year, it’s going to affect our spiritual life subsequently.
There must be a strong conviction about your spirituality whatever choice you decide for. You should have sufficient reasons to give for hanging on to what you chose to hang on to.
Some persons decide to not believe in the existence of God or any spiritual personality. That’s fine if you think it makes you feel better, but you must be certain this belief delivers results. Because with certainty, I can say that God exists.
Before you turn forty, appreciating your spirituality is vital in what defines your quality of life a few years down the line, through your middle ages into old age. Your spirituality defines you. If you can have that stable mix, its key to what you get in your latter years. You should know what your expectations through life should be!
Many people realize they should have gotten things right with their spirituality much earlier in their lives. When they reach old age, they begin to find a way to correct the misnomer. I’ve heard several persons tell me when I was younger, that they wished they were like me or could understand God the way I had. While I tell them it is not late, I realize that it its actually late to use their spiritualty to change much in their lives.
My dad never cared about his spiritualty and his dad too never cared. The result showed in how things turned out for him.
Many things people engage themselves in is because they are been led by their spiritual state of mind. When people kill, steal or involve themselves with any crime, it’s because their spiritual has question marks hanging.
Don’t just look around you and think it’s only about the physical life. The spiritual propels the physical. At forty, you should have learnt to deal with your spiritual side. This way, your physical life will turn out well before you turn forty!