Spiritual Identity Part 3 of 3: Don’t Get Religious on Me
TUNE IN: APPLE PODCASTS I SPOTIFY I STITCHER
This post is from the third episode in a three-part series called Spiritual Identity. In this series, I dive into the concept of Spiritual Identity to explore where I find myself at the beginning of 2021. You’ll definitely want to go back and listen to the first two parts of the series, Episode 19, “Don’t Call me a Christian” and Episode 20, “Recovery Time.”
I decided to do this series because from the very first episode of The All Gifts Podcast, “The Gift of Empowerment in Isolation” there has been a theme of spiritual growth and recovery. God has used this time of forced isolation to re-form my identity in him.
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In this time, I’ve faced my codependence in spiritual relationships, processed trauma from racism, adapted to Zoom, and been given new truths in how to worship God more freely. It’s been an amazing journey and I’ve loved sharing the challenges and gifts with you.
In a recent Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion training, the facilitator said something that really stuck with me. She talked about how organizations have cultures and even their own language. For example, they may use certain acronyms or phrases. She said one basic thing you can do to create a more inclusive environment is to use terms everyone is familiar with or define the terms you use so that everyone understands.
Not everyone who listens to The All Gifts Podcast is a Christian.
In fact, I hope that this is a welcoming space for everyone. But it is up to me to make it that way.
In the spirit of inclusivity, I hope to demystify and define some Christian religious terminology and concepts that you may hear my guests, or I mention.
Have you ever wondered what a Christ-follower means when they say words like, “grace,” “gospel,” or “salvation?”
The easiest way for me to break it down is to describe, in layman’s terms what I believe. Word of warning, I’m not a theologian and I didn’t go to seminary. I didn’t do a bunch of internet research before writing this. I’m just going to define it in the simplest of terms.
As I said in Episode 19, “Don’t Call Me a Christian,” I prefer not to use the term “Christian” to describe my relationship with Jesus. It has too much baggage, too much of a negative connotation. Sometimes I’ll say I’m a “believer,” or a “Christ-follower,” or even a “disciple” of Jesus.
As a disciple of Jesus (which means student of Jesus), I believe in the ancient Hebrew God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is so holy that ancient Jews sacrificed animals through priests to atone for their sins, i.e. anything they did that was unholy. This went on for hundreds of years.
But God had a better plan.
He came to earth in the form of a human and allowed himself to be sacrificed. That human, Jesus, rose from the dead and conquered both spiritual and physical death, not just for himself, but for all who believe in him. In doing this, he reconciled all people back to God.
I believe Jesus lives today inside of those who believe in him through God’s Holy Spirit.
These three dimensions of God, Jesus, The Holy Spirit, and God the Father, is what some people refer to as the “Trinity.” And this story I’m telling you is what people mean when they say, “the gospel.” The gospel simply translates to “good news.”
The good news about the gospel is we don’t have to do anything to earn God saving us (aka “salvation”) through Jesus except believe it. That’s what “grace” means.
As we become more in touch with this story through spending time alone with God, praying to him, listening to his voice inside ourselves and within the Bible, we become slowly transformed.
Our behavior gets better not because of rules imposed on us but by our internal motivation prompted and powered by the spirit of God.
Being around other people who believe really helps, as does taking care of other people who need help, a term we might call “serving.”
All Gifts is an act of service.
I’ve been given many gifts through my challenges and I know this type of resiliency lies inside of all of us.
I bring these stories to you, to inspire you to have hope through your challenges, regardless of what you believe.
While that wasn’t an exhaustive account of Christian doctrine, I hope that the quick descriptions helps familiarize you with some of the concepts and words you may hear me or a guest use on The All Gifts Podcast.
