We'll ask three people to explain what it means to be spiritual, and you'll get four different

answers.

That's a humorous way to state the problem.

Definitions of spirituality are very squishy things.

The term means something different to everyone, so what is biblical spirituality, and can

we settle on an objective definition of spirituality from the Bible?

That's the question today from a young woman, and for her, it's not a theoretical question

at all.

Pastor John, my mother and I have differing views on biblical spirituality, so much so that

she has said that my husband and I are not spiritual.

I believe this is because she embraces spirituality as spiritual gifts, such as speaking of tongues,

interpreting dreams, and claiming healing.

My husband and I have worked in the mission field, are heavily involved in church, love

the Lord, and seek after him in all things.

I don't know what to say to this is a possible that we, my husband and I, are not spiritual.

I feel that this is not the case as I see the fruit of the spirit in our lives.

How would you respond to such a statement toward yourself, and more broadly, what does authentic

Christian spirituality look like?

Let's start with a few comments about the use of language and the importance of definitions,

and then we'll move over to the biblical use of the term spiritual, which is especially

interesting because in the ESV, the word spiritual or spiritual Lee occurs 29 times, and 27

of them are in the writings of the Apostle Paul, and the other two are in Peter's first

...