“I’m not religious, I’m spiritual”

How many of you have heard the saying "I'm not religious, I'm spiritual"? I don't know every single reader personally but I'll make the assumption that a large portion of you have heard people say this. Like myself, you may have been someone who has said this. This common response to questions about spiritual beliefs implies that people don't understand how religion and spirituality work together.

Before I became a follower of Jesus Christ, I was a person who believed that I was spiritual. This belief wasn't necessarily incorrect but the understanding of this belief was. Every single human being on earth has a spirit. In fact, it's not actually correct to say we have a spirit because we are spirits. When God created mankind, we were first spirits and then we were given bodies. This is because there are parts of us that were created and parts of us that were formed. If you're having trouble understanding this, think about the creation process of all things. Everything in this world that has been created was first created in the mind and then materialised in the physical through formation. This includes human beings too; God first created mankind in His own image (Genesis 1:27), formed our bodies (Genesis 2:7), gave us breath and then we were living souls. If we understand that when we create, our creations already existed before they were seen by human eyes, we can understand that we already existed [in spirit] before we were formed. If God is spirit and we are made in His image, surely that means we are spirits too. Spirits are not physically seen but their presence are felt. This is why we can discern someone's character by their spirit. As well as character, spirits also consist of our attitudes, influences, motives, state of feeling and disposition - which all contribute to our characteristics. Our characteristics are expressed through our mind, will and emotions otherwise known as our soul. Our soul lives in our bodies that are formed and given life through breath given to us by God.

Now that we understand that we are spiritual beings having a physical [human] experience, let's unpack the difference between religion and spirituality - if there are any differences. When I used to reject religion and proclaim that "I'm a spiritual person", what I believed I was saying is "I don't subscribe to a bunch of man made rules, I am connected to spiritual reality". The irony is that I was actually subscribing to man made rules but it was mostly subconsciously so I remained ignorant for a long time. Most of the spiritual practices I did were learned from watching and listening to other lost people rather than from the genuine pursuit of spiritual truth. I had no faith. Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see (Hebrews 11:1). I was someone who thought I had faith but I honestly deluded myself into trusting demonic practices because I idolised the things I thought I needed and believed those practices would provide for me. The truth is, I worshiped these practices. I even worshiped myself when there were times I believed I was truly creating my own reality through them. So though I was running away from religion, rejecting the reality of a sovereign God, I was in a religion that was false. Religion is simply a system of beliefs, practices and behaviors. It's an expression of spirituality because what we choose to worship is a result of our awareness of our being in reference to how we were created and why we were created. If you believe that humans were created to be rich, you may end up being a worshipper of money because believing that your sole purpose is to gain material wealth will lead you to do anything and everything in your power to gain that wealth. Religion is also defined as a pursuit or interest followed with great devotion. Spending your whole life devoted to money and the pursuit of it is a false religion that many are familiar with. Religion is much more than congregations following 'man made rules', it is a system created from the innate desire for devotion.

Why is devotion a natural desire for human beings? We were created to love and be loyal to our creator. Many of us weren't raised to know this so we found ourselves worshipping people and other created things we believed made us who we are. Think about it. How many of us have worshipped a specific music artist because you grew attached to their music that made you feel seen and understood? Out of ignorance, you made this artist your god because you thought they gave you life. So you see, this is why Christians worship Jesus Christ. He gave us life and we live worshipping Him because we love Him and choose to be loyal to Him. It's a choice and not a religious command. We worship Him in Spirit and in truth because we understand that all things including ourselves were created by Him (John 1:3), Him being the Word of God that became flesh (John 1:14). When God said "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness" (Genesis 1:26), His word became flesh when He formed us. Our spirit is God conscious so we who have received the revelation of Christ have awareness and acceptance of who we belong to. This is the beginning of worshiping in Spirit; we recieve the revelation by the Holy Spirit and rejoice because we now know the truth. By knowing the truth we now renounce our worship of false gods and idols and choose to worship the one true God, Jesus Christ the sovereign God who became flesh so He could reconcile His creations to Himself.

In conclusion, religion and spirituality cannot be separated. True religion is spiritual before it is physical because to believe in and worship God is to have the knowledge and understanding of His sovereignty in reference to our existence. When we understand and accept that He created us for Himself, by Himself, we make the decision to express our devotion to Him by our physical worship. The knowledge comes from hearing, the understanding comes from revelation and acceptance comes from humility - these are all spiritual things that cannot be separated from the outward expression of their reality.