Differences?

Have you wondered about the differences between spirituality and religiosity?

Here’s what I mean by these terms.

To be religious is to align yourself with a specific religion or denomination and its beliefs and culture. The more religious someone is the more they adhere to the norms of their religion or denomination, including beliefs, rituals, vocabulary, and culture as a whole.

Being spiritual means having a personal connection with God that goes beyond the religious rituals and formalities. People who consider themselves spiritual, live beyond the confines of any specific religious practice, picking and choosing aspects they like from different traditions, denominations, or religions.

With this in mind, let’s take a look at a parable Jesus told about the kingdom of heaven, then I will address the differences between religiosity and spirituality in more detail.

Matthew 13:44

In this very short parable, Jesus describes the kingdom of heaven as a treasure hidden in a field. In Jesus’ day, it was common for wealthy people to bury their treasures. This was a way to keep it from robbers who might come searching for it, as well as a way to keep it from invading armies as you flee from your home. However, many times the owner would never return to their home, they would die or be taken as slaves, or get shipwrecked, or forget where exactly they buried their treasure, sometimes they would never get a chance to pass on the information to anyone else, or just not give very good directions.

So every now and again, someone would be plowing their field and discover something odd, something different, that upon closer inspection proved to be a treasure! If you happen to be plowing land that didn’t belong to you, perhaps you were simply paying a fee to use it for a period of time the treasure would not belong to you, but rather to whoever owned the field.

Jesus describes this treasure as having such great value that the person who found it was happy to sell everything he had to buy the field and gain the treasure!

Jesus tells us that the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field.

The person who was idle, watching TikTok and scrolling through social media did not find the treasure.

Sometimes we are tempted to expect salvation, spiritual growth, or a great treasure, to find us while we idly waste the precious time we have here on earth. We go through life wanting to be entertained, served, and catered to. We want deep insights to come into our minds while we scroll mindlessly on a screen. I am not saying that you are watching anything inherently evil. What I am trying to say is that at best you're failing to grow.

Here is an opportunity to share some of the dangers I have noticed regarding people who identify as spiritual and not religious. They stay comfortable, doing what they feel like doing, and are often tired, too busy to be involved with any structured ministry that demands consistency. They do the whole God thing when they feel like it, they just don't feel like it often.

The “Luck” Factor

Finding a treasure requires luck. You don't know where the treasure is ahead of time. However, those who are out there plowing the field are more likely to experience “luck” and find the treasure. This treasure is the kingdom of God, including a greater understanding of who God is and His will for our lives. In my life, most of the moments of great insight took place when I was engaged in religious activity. I was at church, listening to a sermon, preparing to teach a class, or giving a Bible study. I have also had great insights during my personal devotional time, which developed as a discipline, so I am not sure if it would be considered religious or spiritual, but I'll talk more about this as we go on.

Religion, when it works the way it is supposed to, increases the likelihood you will discover that great treasure.

But remember that religion is not the treasure itself.

Wealthy Enough

The person who was wealthy enough had no reason to work and did not find the treasure.

This is a trap that both can fall into. Religious people can trust in their position or status within a religious organization and feel like they no longer need to work, search, plow, be involved in the mission, or seek personal growth. They may be tempted to believe that because they belong to the “club,” their membership guarantees them the treasure, that is, the kingdom of God.

In a different way, the spiritual person can also feel no need for any extra effort. He may feel that as long as he is not an evil person he is fine. As long as he is not breaking any laws or hurting anyone his treasure should be guaranteed. The "spiritual" person may feel no need for any further study or involvement with the mission because after all, he is not an evil person, he is not breaking any laws.

The person who feels no need to search and seek and knock will not find the treasure. (Matthew 7:7-8)

Jesus chose to begin the sermon on the mount with blessed are the poor in spirit for a reason.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 5:3NKJV

When you recognize your poverty, you seek out God and you find His treasure!

Owning the Field

The person who owned the field didn’t know the true value of the field, didn’t realize the treasure that was buried there.

This is something that I believe religious people are more likely to fall into. They believe they own the field, they may know there is a treasure buried somewhere, but they are fine owning the field. Meanwhile, someone who recognizes her poverty and decides to plow and work the field is the one who finds a great treasure!

The “problem” with the treasure

I recently heard the story of Forrest Fenn and the Fenn Treasure. I recommend looking it up because there’s a lot about it and I will only mention a few things. Forrest Fenn (August 22, 1930 - September 7, 2020) was a pilot in the United States Air Force, who was awarded the Silver Star for his service in the Vietnam War where he flew 328 combat missions in 365 days. (Wikipedia)

Fenn became an art collector and became quite wealthy. In 1988 when he received a grim diagnosis; kidney cancer. Faced with what he thought was the end of his life, he began thinking about what his legacy might be.

Thus, the Forrest Fenn treasure was born. (allthatsinteresting.com)

Fenn had said he packed and repacked his bronze treasure chest for more than a decade, sprinkling in gold dust and adding hundreds of rare gold coins and gold nuggets. Pre-Columbian animal figures went in, along with prehistoric “mirrors” of hammered gold, ancient Chinese faces carved from jade and antique jewelry with rubies and emeralds.

He had always said he hid the treasure as a way to tempt people to get into the wilderness and give them a chance to launch an old-fashioned adventure and expedition for riches. (The Salt Lake Tribune)

The launch of Forrest Fenn’s treasure hunt coincided with the release of his 2010 self-published memoir, The Thrill of the Chase. The book contains the roadmap for finding the treasure in the form of a 24-stanza poem; one that Fenn said possessed nine clues that would lead hunters to his grand prize.

Over the 10 years that the treasure hunt was held, more than 300,000 people attempted to find his hidden treasure. Fenn claimed he received 100 emails per day from hunters soliciting clues as to the treasure’s location. (allthatsinteresting.com) The treasure spurred an almost a cult-like following — many people quit their jobs to dedicate themselves to the search. Others depleted their life savings, and some people died searching for it. (The Salt Lake Tribune)

And this is the “problem” with the treasure in the parable.

How dedicated are you to finding it?

How far are you willing to go?

In the parable, after he finds the treasure, the man goes and gladly sells everything he had and buys the field.

We don’t appreciate the treasure so we resist selling everything to buy the field.

In the time of Jesus, the religious leaders had everything they needed to recognize the Messiah. They had the prophecies, the temple and its services, history, and more special revelations from God than any other people on the earth at that time. There was no reason for them to miss the Messiah unless the cost of following the Messiah was too high.

Accepting Jesus as Messiah meant giving up everything they had. Generations had sacrificed to build the temple, and they fell in love with the work of their hands. The religious leaders had political power, wealth, and status, and they were willing to follow a messiah that would give them even more of what they had already acquired.

"Thy kingdom come" had become "my kingdom come."

The religion they built became more valuable than Jesus.

The religious practices became more important than the spiritual lessons they taught. The religious leaders lost sight of the spiritual significance of their ceremonies. The ceremonies that should have drawn them closer to God and opened their minds to spiritual truths became an end in and of themselves. They began to live and exist for the sake of their religion, losing sight of the spiritual growth their religion was intended to foster.

We must continually seek God and never settle for mere religiosity. Turning completely away from religion can also be dangerous because we are not held accountable or challenged to grow. Religion has its place and is beneficial, so long as it serves the purpose of spiritual growth and the mission of kingdom growth. Religion should help you find the treasure Jesus has for you, but must never be confused with the treasure. Religion is not the treasure, it does not guarantee the treasure, but it should help you find the treasure in Jesus.