Are you Spiritual or Just Saved?

What does it mean to be spiritual?  No one can be spiritual or biblical without first experiencing new birth.  New birth is life, life that is freely given to all who believe in the Lord Jesus as their personal savior.  Spirituality is growing in relationship with the Holy Spirit. It is simply Christian maturity; however, like in the natural, no one is born mature.  It is a process that one must go through to become a grown up. The same is also true with spirituality.  

A new Christian cannot be called spiritual simply because he or she has not had sufficient time to grow in knowledge and experience.  A new Christian can be spirit control, but the area of spiritual control will be expanding in the process of Christian growth.  A young Christian has not yet been confronted in many areas to try his or her faith in their life.  

When he/she is first saved, they may not even know that there is such a person as a weaker brother.  Although he may be not be unwilling to curve his liberties for the sake of that brother, he has not yet faced a real challenge. He may say that he has, but he has not faced having to actually not do something that he really wants to do.  He does not have to refrain because it is a sin to do whatever it is, but he needs to refrain because it may cause someone else to become weaker in faith or do something that will ruin their life. 

A Christian of longer standing may not be spiritual either;  not because he has had insufficient time, but because over the years of his or her Christian life, he or she has not allowed the Holy Spirit to control them.  The difference here is that the new Christian may lack the time required for spiritual growth, but the believer that has been saved for years may be deficient in his or her submission.  Without continually submitting to the Holy Spirit a Christian cannot mature. They will remain immature.

A Christian can backslide in certain areas of his life without losing all of the progress that he has made while being saved. The flesh may control his actions during a period of backsliding, but when he comes back to the Lord, he does not necessarily have to start the process of growth all over again.  This principle does not apply in every area of our life. There are some aspects of living that, when they have been violated, may never fully be redeemed.  

There are stages of growth within the area of maturity.  The Bible says that we grow from faith to faith and also from strength to strength.  Are you spiritual or just saved?  To make progress in your faith walk you must grow in submitting to the powerfully teaching and leading Holy Spirit.