Over the course of the last several years I’ve had many conversations with friends that ended with the person saying they just felt kinda blah. You know, they just felt like they were going through a tough, dry season. And that’s something that I can easily identify with, as I’m sure you can too. Now, the first thing that immediately comes to mind to remedy the situation is to ask the person if they’ve been reading their Bible and praying enough (I mean, isn’t that always the answer?). And most times, the person will look back at me, with a sheepish look, and admit that, sure, they haven’t been reading as much as they should be. Or, they just haven’t been consistent in their prayer life as they’d like to be. Sometimes, if the rough patch has been really arduous and long, they’ll reflect back on the days when everything seemed to be as it should: they were praying for three hours a day, and devouring books of Scripture whole like candy.
Now, don’t get me wrong. “Read your Bible, pray everyday, and you’ll grow, grow grow” is as good a motto as any. And what’s more, it’s actually true. But I think there’s a bit more to it than that. It’s completely possible to read your Bible everyday, pray until you’re blue in the face, and still feel worlds away from God.
In Chosen to be a Soldier (orders and regulations for soldiers of The Salvation Army), chapter three, entitled “Living With God”, there is a section on what it means to battle against “Bogus Piety”. It reads:
“The corrective against the danger of indulging in bogus piety instead of living with God and loving Him supremely is given by the Saviour Himself. He couples the first commandment of the Law with the second one which is like it: We are to love our fellow man as we love ourselves. The Bible expresses in several ways that the genuineness of our love for God is tested by our attitude to man. God, who is love, instils into the hearts of those who truly live in harmony with Him, love of a practical kind to their neighbour.” (Chosen to be a Soldier, page 11)
When we are obedient to the Lord in an act of loves to others, we feel a rush of love course through our veins. We feel the presence of His Spirit because we have acted in the way that He desires. There is no barrier that separates us from Him, because instead of turning away from God through sin, we turn to God by mimicking God’s love for us. We have not acted in congruence with the world and its ways, but have shared in the divine nature by walking as Jesus walked. Ephesians 5:1-2 says, “Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us a, a pleasing aroma to God.”
If we want to be close to God, we have to share in His nature. We have to be like Him. We must act like Him. This is what it means to live in communion with God. It’s more than holing up in a holy commune. It means allowing your private interactions with the Spirit to transform your public interactions with people. And you can’t do one with out the other. We can’t know how to love people without continually relying on Love to fill us through prayer. We can’t understand the scandalous measures of God’s love without putting ourselves before his Word, which is the only divine rule of Christian faith and practice.” The two have to work together. Otherwise we’re left with bogus piety, a bad religion.