SOPHISTICATED

How wonderful it is when this is part of an experience. So very satisfying if it means you feel the joy from something that flows naturally without any problems.

And on a spiritual levels for me this means something focused more on truth than traditions. An event or experience that takes place where the only desire is to bring honor to the Lord.

I still recall when I attended this one church service. And they sung all the right praise hymns.

They said all the right words, but the problem was a feeling of it being a show. Smiles forced, words said by practice and not from the heart.

Things being done out of habit and for show, but not to truly lifting up the Lord. I kept those impressions to myself at the time.

Later the couple we had gone to the service as guests, unfolded a lot of details about what went on in the shadows. Those were the unspoken rules and politics that get played but not seen publicly.

And what a good job they did having created the wonderful illusion of piety and spirituality. If only it had truly been real.

Such is the circus that seems to often get expressed whenever rituals rule a fellowship. When people are servants to practices rather than faith.

This is never a honor to the Lord. For all the masks and all the impressiveness, it is still other than spiritual sophistication.

But then none of this is surprising. None of it the least bit difficult to appreciate. For we do so want our own slice of heaven.

To bad we expect it and seek it on our own terms. That because the sad commentary on our own priorities.

And I don't think that is so unusual. It is the reality for when we have so many issues inside that dominate our thinking.

God can reach into those issues, when we listen to His spirit. It can be painful to have to abandoned our myths for the truth.

To truly see deep into our own motives and when what we do is just for show. How often that is a journey we don't care to make.

Thank goodness we when do listen the joy comes from seeing what really matters.