SPIRITUALITY AND ITS HINDRANCES
SPIRITUALITY AND ITS HINDRANCES
Everything we see and come in contact with has a relation to God and to men. It has a relation to man simply because he is in contact with it; and it necessarily has a relation to God because all is His. To be able to see each thing purely and simply as it is in relation to God is spirituality. To reach this there must not only be a getting clear of one’s own relation to it - that is, as it affects or touches oneself, which I will call personal hindrance - but there are cases in which there may be hindrances to spirituality, even with a measure of self-renunciation and a measure of estimate of its relation to God. Correct knowledge, devotedness, godliness - any one of these, when made paramount, will so blind and engross the heart that the relation to oneself is not quite renounced; and if not, the relation it bears to God cannot be accepted, and thus there is not spirituality.
[p. 355] Now it will be at once conceded that where there is personal feeling or selfishness, there cannot be spirituality; that is, when I look at anything as it relates to myself. And yet how often do we speak of and regard things and persons as they are in relation to ourselves! Surely christians would not make so many mistakes, and have so many different views about the same persons and things, if they were looked at and judged of in their relation to God, and not as they are in relation to oneself. Lot regarded the well watered plain of Sodom as the right place for him, because he saw it only in relation to himself. Barnabas maintained that Mark was the right man to accompany him in service, because he looked at him chiefly in relation to himself - he being his kinsman. The psalmist in Psalm 73 is nearly overwhelmed because he looks at all the disorganisation and consequences of sin on the earth in relation to himself. He arrives at a very different judgment when, in the sanctuary, he sees the same things in their relation to God only.
Many are, like the psalmist, greatly tried about things, simply because they are looking at them in relation to themselves. A person can be, as the psalmist was, very true and painstaking in forming an opinion, and yet, because he has himself so before his mind, he fails to see the state of things as they are in the mind of God. This is a very common hindrance to spirituality; one’s own feelings so unknowingly sway one, and they are so spontaneous and at hand, that unless the soul is so near the Lord as to be bowed before Him in the greatness of His presence, and thus compelled to set oneself aside, there can be no escape from imbibing and adopting a view of things in relation to oneself. It is thus that self or selfishness is a hindrance to spirituality; and though so constant and obtrusive, yet it is the one more easily corrected than other hindrances.
Next, a correct knowledge of the letter of the word if it be too much relied on, is a great hindrance to spirituality. “Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth”. One may have very correct knowledge, and use it selfishly, like the Corinthians, who were eating in an idol’s temple, because they knew that an idol was nothing, and never thinking of the effect of their act on the weak consciences of their brethren. Knowledge leads in the same spirit now, though not in the same way. The very knowledge often conduces to make one practically unspiritual.
Isaac had the truth of the blessing for his son quite clearly; and yet this did not preserve him from almost committing a very grievous blunder, namely, conferring it on the wrong man, even Esau.
The knowledge of the first great promise to man led to a sad misconception on the part of Eve, which doubtless led her to call her firstborn Cain. Knowledge of the word of God, be it ever so critical, leads, if used by the natural mind, to error and confusion. I require the mind of Christ as well as a true knowledge of the Scriptures in order to be spiritual or to follow the will of God. The natural man can grasp a sense in the words of Scripture, and yet be far from the drift of them, like the disciples answering our Lord, “Here are two swords”, understanding His words about buying a sword in a literal sense. Here it is that scholarship fails so much, and is so wide of spirituality. You hardly ever find that a person who relies too much on criticism is really spiritual. It is a word that governs him and not the Spirit of God. Thus the Pharisees condemned the Lord for breaking the sabbath, and those of the circumcision urged that believers could not be saved unless they were circumcised. In every way “the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life”. There is no more painful or profitless attempt at service than a mere critical exposition of the Scriptures, it is but as “sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal”. Satan can have a verbal knowledge of the word, and of course he can help a man to what he knows himself. Balaam had a clear knowledge of the [p. 357] mind of God, but he tried in every way to evade it and escape the power of it; and therefore there may be critical knowledge which is not only a hindrance to spirituality, but is opposed to it.
Next, one might be devoted, and yet not be spiritual. A devoted saint is very interesting unless he makes devotedness everything, and measures everyone by it; for thus he is directly or indirectly calling attention to his own doings, or pressing them on others. Devotedness is simply the expression of a heart devoted to the Lord, and which is in any and every way interested in Him to the neglect of oneself. Jonathan was devoted when he “stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle”. Real devotedness to one worthy of it is very attractive; but when one becomes cumbered by it, as Martha was, or when one draws attention to it in any way, its bloom is gone. There cannot be spirituality without devotedness, but there can be devotedness without spirituality. Peter was truly devoted in heart; he had left all, and he reminded the Lord of it, which is a common occurrence with many devoted people. When there is only devotedness, however true it is, the interest and energy is chiefly shown in sacrifice. In doctrine and practice it is ever on the subjective side. Jonah when restored was devoted, but he had much to learn afterwards. Devotedness is more what I do to the Lord than what I acquire from Him.
Lastly, even a godly person might not be spiritual. One young in grace is often godly, has a just sense of the holiness of God, and stands in awe of Him, which is a true check on the flesh, and a work of the Spirit; but when godliness is the great aim, most valuable and exemplary as it is, it is not by itself spirituality.
Spirituality is simply [p. 358] the mind of the Spirit of God, and hence “the spiritual discerns all things”; he can nicely distinguish between two things in which there is the least difference. Anything which diverts you from the mind of the Spirit of God hinders spirituality. “The things of God knows no one except the Spirit of God”. It is evident, as I have stated, that when I regard anything in a merely natural light, I have wandered from the mind of the Spirit to my own mind. It is only when I am near the Lord that I am spiritual, and then my own mind, which is at the root of every hindrance, is set aside and silenced; and this is more easily exposed, and therefore corrected, when it is not connected with things which screen it, such as knowledge, devotion, or piety. As spirituality only lives and thrives near the Lord, the great mark of the spiritual man is that the presence of the Lord is necessary to him, and the proof of his spirituality is that he knows when he is near Him, and is very sensible of his lack when he is not. Hence, while the knowledge of the word is his great desire, it is that he may be better versed in the mind of the Lord, though he finds that it is only when near Him that the knowledge of it takes right shape in his soul. He knows that otherwise he would be like one who knows the theory of medicine, and yet is not able to adapt it to a given case, or like one well acquainted with mechanics as a science, but incapable from a lack of practical knowledge to use it aright. It is only the spiritual mind which can adapt and perceive what is the mind of the Spirit in any case, and thus be able to wield the word of God effectually therein. Hence a spiritual man can apply Scripture, and discover the mind of the Lord in figures and allegories, in a way which is quite foreign and incomprehensible to the man who has learned the Scriptures only as a science. The knowledge of the word in the most complete way, as we learn from the incident of the two disciples going to Emmaus (Luke 24) is not sufficient to lead to a spiritual course, until the Lord is known (verse 31). But then they are in the very line with Himself; they do not think it too late to go to Jerusalem; and when they get there, while they are telling their tale, He stands in the midst of them. We find, as a rule, that when God communicates His [p. 359] mind to man, it is when there is no place for the flesh, like Moses at the burning bush, or Daniel, or Ezekiel. There can never be a clear and distinct apprehension of the mind of God, unless man in the flesh is displaced at the very time of communication. Hence it is in beholding the glory of the Lord now that true progress is effected. The knowledge of the word will not do without the presence of the Lord. It is not really useful to me without the model, and the only model is Christ; He only can lead me into a true spiritual use of the word. He was the living impersonation of it in everything. Again, when I am spiritual I follow the Lord; I am not occupied with doing or surrendering. I am afraid of myself; I see how zeal and the self-sacrificing character of devotedness would absorb me. Spirituality leads me to judge what appears to be devotedness, as I am near Him. If I follow Him, I must be devoted, and this is the one great delight of the spiritual: “Whither thou goest, I will go”. The mind of the Spirit leads me to treat everything differently. Devotedness, as I might say, has but one rule for everything. The sons of Zeruiah were too hard to be spiritual, and yet there is no one more inflexible and self-forgetting than the one led by the Spirit of God. The difficulty is to distinguish between the act of zeal and the leading of the Spirit of God. This can only be known near Him. If I have anything prominently before me except the Lord, that thing, however good it is, becomes a screen for something of myself, and where there is any self-consideration, the region of spirituality is lost. It may be an amiable thing, but because it is of man and not of God, it is not spirituality.
May spirituality be more truly known by each of us.