What Is Spirituality?

How do we define spirituality? Perhaps we can work our way to an answer of the purpose of the spiritual life by asking ourselves several questions. What is the purpose of our faith? Why do we pray? Is it more than just looking for the answers to our prayers? It is also worshipping and praising God...but is that, in some way, beneficial to us? We would probably instinctively say, “yes”, but then falter somewhat with any follow-up questions about how prayer ties into the greater spiritual life.

So, is prayer supposed to benefit us? Do we need to grow spiritually? That is quite close to suggesting that we need to grow spiritually to be able to be saved. Otherwise, why would we actually need to grow spiritually? No matter what angle I attempt to approach this issue, I keep coming back to salvation. It seems that much of this issue is highly dependent on our definition of salvation.

If we see salvation as something that has already happened and is completed, then the spiritual life is somewhat dead. What do I mean by that? If I am already saved, then what point is there to the spiritual life? Why pray? Why go to church? What is worship? Is it just the joy I feel from knowing I am saved? If salvation were only a point in time, I cannot even see a purpose in life itself.

There is something obviously wrong with answers to all those questions, right? However, if we speak of salvation as spoken of in the Scriptures, that we are being saved, then the whole of the spiritual life opens up to us. Life has purpose. Church has truth. Prayer becomes a path.

In these next few posts, I am going to attempt to dig into this question of what spirituality is.

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