Spiritual, but Not Religious

12/26/09…I have always been curious regarding one category in internet dating sites. I have participated in Match.com, eHarmony, and Christianmingle.com. Can’t say I have been on many dates using these sites because I learned early on, I better be very discerning (I’ll write about my horror tales at another time). What I find curious is each of these generally has a category called Religion. When you are building your profile, you can check a number of categories under Religion. The one I always found interesting was “Spiritual, but not Religious.” Who checks off this one? What do they mean by that? That they believe in God, they just don’t bother reading the Bible or going to church or participating in studies or etc., not that any of these has to occur. I just would be very surprised if anyone who checked this off actually had a relationship with God worth discussing.

For me, over these last 3-4 months, I would have to switch the words and check off a category called “Religious, but not Spiritual”, at least if I want to be honest. I never knew what Jesus meant when he told those people, depart from me, I never knew you. I think I do now. I think if Jesus appeared to me right now, He would say, I use to know you, but I don’t know you now. If I am not careful, this little premonition could come to fruition.

I go to church almost every week, I sing worship songs, and I listen to sermons. I talk about my floundering relationship with God. I write journal entries about reflections centered on God. I take a phone call from a friend who is running a homeless shelter I use to be involved in and give advice. I do good deeds here and there. I listen to Christian music. I am obedient by not having sex outside marriage with my girlfriend.

All these things I am doing, but none of this is spiritually honoring God because God is not in it. I am not reading my Bible consistently, nor am I praying, and the most troubling part is I don’t even bother going to God and asking Him to speak to my still mind. I no longer meditate, at all. I no longer think about God in a way that says I want to get to know you.

With God, everything comes back to relationships. If I once had a best friend, but then we parted and I never called, nor emailed, nor bothered to try and see him, I bet he would say, I once knew you, but I do not know you now. Such is my relationship with God. I am Religious, but not Spiritual. I can talk about my friend, I can talk about what great times we use to have, but my friend is no longer going to know me because there was no effort on my part.

So what has happened? Like an alcoholic, I guess the first step is to admit what is going on. I really do not want to. I want to maintain my Religious shell and not let anyone see beyond it. After all I must keep up appearances. But after a while, and the while is fast approaching, it will begin to get exhaustive to keep up appearances.