1 Corinthians 3 -- A Definition Of "Spiritual"

Paul knocked the props out from under a lot of people in the Corinthian church (and all over the world down through the centuries) who thought they were being super spiritual.  He said, “You are still not spiritual, because there is jealousy and quarreling among you, and this shows that you are not spiritual.”

The sidebar in my Bible on this chapter was from The Best Of Tozer by Warren Wiersbe, and he quotes:  “True spirituality manifests itself in certain desires:

1)       The desire to be holy rather than happy … The truly spiritual man knows that God will give abundance of joy after we have become able to receive it without injury to our soul;

2)      A Christian is spiritual when he sees everything from God’s viewpoint.  The ability to weigh all things in the divine scale and place the same value upon them as God does is the mark of a Spirit-filled life;

3)      The desire to see others advance at his expense is another mark of a spiritual man.  He wants to see other Christians above him and is happy when they are promoted and he is overlooked….”

His overarching comment was that growing spiritually requires that we look to Christ for our identity.  We cannot base our identity on any person other than Him.

Father God, those are tough measures, and they take a lifetime with You to become an integral part of us.  Yet how much better it would be to learn them early on, so that we could have the remainder of our lives on earth to practice such spiritual living!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford