Up and Down

So at this point it has been over two weeks since I got back from camp. One of the big things that week that the speaker brought up, was how each week of camp or any other large burst of spirituality, we have a spiritual high. A spiritual high is a feeling often felt during a Christian gathering when someone feels emotionally "better" or "closer to God". While these feelings are good and can certainly be used by God for His purpose, they are so often mistaken for how Christians should feel 100% of the time. We get home from camp, we get home from that conference, we get home from church and life hits us square in the face. There's no worship band, no speaker and people aren't focused on God. Then all the sudden those spiritual emotions, that "closeness" we thought we felt is gone and we're left with our everyday thoughts and we wonder what we did wrong.

This is the "spiritual roller coaster" brought up at camp. It's something that gets us on a higher high each time. We realize it's existence and think that acknowledgment will make a change. However what we are trying to beat is our own emotions. How you feel is dictated by so many things, that trying to defeat a feeling is near impossible. We come home with "closeness" because there was a good worship band. News Flash: Chances are the worship band at your house is less moving. The lie we need to defeat is this: Spiritual feelings equate to actual relationship with God and success as a Christian. We are so often believe this. What we need to do when we are tempted to think this is the same thing we must do everyday. Remind ourselves of the Gospel. The same Gospel that says "my relationship with God is based solely on the finished work of Jesus Christ and has nothing to do with how I feel". We are in perfect relationship with God, the Father, because God, the Son, said: It is finished. That's the beauty. We have no part in this relationship. God is gripping us with all His might and even if we let go we would still be held in that powerful, glorious hand. This fact is what often turns people off. How can it be that simple? I would first say: It wasn't easy for Christ, but also: Why should it be difficult for us? God loves us so much, why would He make some convoluted, impossible ritual to become His child?

That's the answer to the "spiritual roller coaster" problem. Our emotions can go up and down, we can feel ecstatic or burdened, either way, if we have accepted the Gospel then it doesn't matter how we feel. Because even if our emotional roller coaster is going up and down like a rodeo, our relationship with God is smooth sailing, right at the top. God is holding us up there and all we have to do is yell at the people on the other roller coasters, telling them of the grace of God. We sit and watch what God does and thank Him for what He has done in the past and will do in the future.