CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN: THE NEXUS BETWEEN MORALITY AND SPIRITUALITY

 “God delivered righteous Lot, troubled by the filthy lifestyle of the people around him because as that righteous man lived amongst them, seeing and hearing what they were doing and saying, his righteous soul was troubled day after day by their unlawful behaviours. The Lord knows how to deliver the godly from temptations, and to reserve the unjust for the Day of Judgment to be punished” – II Peter 2:7-9

In his book, James: Practical and Authentic Living, Chuck Swindoll asked, “If you say you believed like you should, why do you behave like you shouldn’t?” If we demonstrate authenticity of our identities as God’s children living in relatively ungodly environments, we would not be under pressure to compromise our testimonies. 

We live in environments which in all intents and purposes seek to stifle spiritual growth and hinder righteous living. As it was in the case of Lot, so it is in ours.

It is becoming increasingly challenging to survive and maintain one’s spiritual and moral balances in a world where antiquated immoralities have become modern moralities, where right is becoming increasingly questioned and mocked at while projecting moral and spiritual insanities as sanities.  

Our environments are so alluringly corruptive that God’s servants are being lured away by those who are in it (Genesis 6:1-5).

WHAT IS “NEXUS”?

Nexus refers to the relationship or connection between two things. The nexus between spirituality and morality is that morality should reflect one’s spirituality and vice-versa.   

To illustrate the meaning of “Nexus,” Robert Gilpin wrote, “Trade is the oldest and most important economic nexus among nations. Indeed, trade has been central to the evolution of international relations.”  

THE NEXUS BETWEEN MORALITY AND SPIRITUALITY

Humans are triune beings, possessing bodies, souls and spirits. In other words, we are Triune beings. We are composed of many things. There is a moral as well as spiritual aspects of our beings. God’s intention is that every aspect of our lives must be in consonance with His Divine Will. I Thessalonians 5:23 says:

“And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

To function optimally, we must strike a balance between our various components. This is to say that our physical or moral lives must be in consonance with our spiritual lives. Therefore, to strike a balance between our physicality and spirituality and make them yield to God’s Will is to find a nexus.

Recognizing a part of us that is eternal and God-like is the first step to becoming spiritual. The journey to moral and spiritual wholeness is one of intendedness. In other words, we must be intentional about it.

We must maintain our morality without compromising our spirituality. The nexus is to be humans without jeopardizing our spiritual heritage and inheritances. We must avoid spiritual lethargy and silliness.

CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN: THE NEXUS BETWEEN MORALITY AND SPIRITUALITY

“Contemporary Christian” refers to modern day Christians - people who live in the present age. It refers to you and I who are alive today. 

Without equivocation, Christianity is a call to transformative life. It is a call to a life of personal responsibility centered on an active personal relationship with God. It is a call to higher living with far-reaching expectations.

Christianity calls on us not to live with outward presentability but to for an immeasurably higher and more blessed lives. It calls on us not to mouth the word, “Christian,” but to model the reality of Who we are called on to imitate His life, culture and calling.

Christianity is a call to absolute divestment of self and enthronement of Jesus in our individual lives. Galatians 2:20 says,

“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and [a]the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

As Christians, we have been invited to model higher life of purpose and to be different from people around us. We have been called to be honourable and dignified.

CULTIVATING HIGHER MORAL AND SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES

There are Biblical principles to help us model higher spiritual and moral lives:

1. Make It Your Daily Aim To Please God

As Christians, our daily goals should be to “please God.” II Corinthians 5:6, 8-9 says,

“So, we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. ... We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.”

To be “present in the body” is to live the way we would have loved to while to be “absent from the body” is to live the way God wants us to. 

2. Live Self Supervised Life

Philippians 2:12 enjoins us,

“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”

Do not wait to be seen and monitored by fellow Christians before you live the way you should. Regulate and supervise yourself.

3. Live in God’s Presence Daily

Recognize that God is watching your every move. II Chronicles 16:9 tells us,

“For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.…”

GNTA translation of Proverbs 5:21 says,

“The Lord sees everything you do. Wherever you go, he is watching.”   

If people do not see you, God sees you. Knowing that God sees you and knows everything you do even when others do not should help you to know how you live.      

4. Avoid Being Like The People Around You (I Samuel 8:4-5). 

One of the most powerful negative influences which seek to pull us away and to make compromises is peer influence. Because of our need to belong, we sometimes want to become like the people around us. That was Israel’s error. Truth is, Christians are separate from the people around them and should remain so (John 17:14-16). Therefore, do not desire to be like the world around you, but make efforts to establish and maintain your distinctiveness as a “person of God’s good pleasure” (I Peter 2:9-10).

It is not the world that should determine our morality for us. Do not imitate the world around you because it has nothing meaningful to offer but riotousness and vanity. Rather than allow the world to become your role model, you should be the one to serve as its role model. The mould in which the world finds itself should not contain you.

5. Watch What You See, Read and Hear

At Mark 4:24, Jesus warns, “Consider carefully what you hear….”  At Luke 8:18, He counsels, “Therefore TAKE HEED HOW YOU HEAR.” In our popular song, “Oh Jesus I have Promised” (Songs of The Church 200), the song speaks of “Dazzling Sights and Tempting Sounds” (stanza 2). This was the challenge that confronted Lot when he lived in Sodom and Gomorrah (II Peter 2:7-8) and sought to make him compromise his testimonies.   

These “Dazzling sights and tempting sounds” of today are made worse by our social and mass media through alluring forms of entertainment in all its genres. We are constantly being bombarded with negative ideas in music, movies and dresses. We are being encouraged to allow people whose lifestyles are everything but good to become our role models. 

While Lot lived in the corruptive environment he found himself, he did not “Feel lured” by the “Sights and sounds,” but “Felt righteous indignation” because “His righteous soul was tormented by what he saw and heard” (II Peter 2:8). Rather than being attracted, his sensibilities were assaulted by them; he did not give in to them, he resisted. Do not be lured by the attractions around you. 

6. Live Above Spiritual Mediocrity

Going to church is not the end of it all. Learn to be completely absorbed into the Divine and to experience God personally. At Philippians 3:10 Apostle Paul echoed says, “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection….” 

7. Stop Living For The Now

Remind yourself daily – time and time again of the consequences of living in the “NOW.” Esau lived for the NOW and he suffered the consequence. Hebrews 12:16 - 17 warns,

“Let there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.” 

8. Cultivate Godly Relationships. II Timothy 2:22 counsels:

“Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.”

Because our relationships influence us (Proverb 22:24-25; Psalms 100:34-40), I Corinthians 15:33 warns us against cultivating certain kinds of relationships. Truth be told, if Dinah, one of Jacob’s daughters had not gone to “visit with Daughters of the land” she would not have been “Violated by Schechem” (Genesis 34:1-2). Therefore, do not let any son or daughter of the land violate your righteousness! 

 CONCLUSION

Heaven is so precious and our souls too valuable that we should allow our environment to destroy the beautiful life ahead of us in eternity with our Father and His Saints glorified. All we need to do to an environment that hinders righteousness is to “Say No” to all its suggestions (Titus 2:12-13).

What the Lord has in store for us are too precious to loose by messing up with low living and all forms of unrighteousness (I Corinthians 2:9).

May the Lord strengthen us to remain focused on living for Him!