Re:Verse passage – 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 (day six)
One of the biggest hangups in the life of the Corinthian church was an inaccurate picture of what it meant to be a spiritual person. Coming out of a culture of pagan worship where ecstatic personal experiences (like speaking in tongues) where elevated, it was no surprise that this became a superior value in their church. For them spirituality had little to do with daily Holy Spirit-led living, connecting with others, or fulfilling God’s mission, but rather, regularly experiencing the more charismatic gifts.
Sound familiar? There is a strong temptation in contemporary Christian church culture (and has been for some time) to define spirituality in similar ways. If we are not mindful, our “spiritual” lives can be totally disconnected from daily life, and yet we can still consider ourselves spiritual because we love singing those hymns, or we are moved to raise our hands when the band plays the right song.
Paul says, this ought not be so. True spirituality is when the Holy Spirit guides us through all of life; this can take shape with or without heightened “spiritual” experiences.
