Welcome to today’s post where I will surely offend someone lol
I’ve been thinking lately, watching how many Christian (and spiritual people) operate online – and wanted to share what I see..
There are different stages of spiritual thinking and my posts are working to open you up to a higher perspective than the one you already have and maintain.
That may be why they sometimes rub you the wrong way.. or create an uncomfortable feeling like “is she a heretic” but like you also can’t look away lol, or an unsettled feeling that leads to the impulse to correct vs inviting curiosity.
Sometimes we think this is spiritual discernment, but it’s just that we have not matured in our perspective..
Let me explain.
It’s not that I technically disagree with you – you are just at level 1 or 2, and not yet seeing more nuance that’s available.
Stage 1
Stage 1 thinking is often just regurgitated from church and popular teachers. It proves you’re a good Listener and a good parrot. It’s the “right” answer, and you’re often focused on being right. And correcting people back to this supposed “rightness”.
It’s about finding emotional safety in correctness instead of Christ himself alone.
Many Christians are still here swimming in the kiddie pool, with their fluro orange floaties on, while on social media in the comments section. This is why it’s not pretty.
So many Christians never leave this level. They are satisfied being fed by church regurgitated info like a baby bird because it means they never need to go and find or digest food on their own. They never mature. This is often – not always – the spirit of religion.
When we are first introduced to Jesus we do alot of learning from regurgitation. But we were never designed to stay there, because regurgitation is not discipleship. It’s knowledge.
(I’m not saying church is wrong/bad)
Stage 2
Stage 2 thinking is a little more nuanced.
It sees that many Christian environments have missed important nuance about things like our identity in Christ (and not in people or identities like the Good Christian Girl), what being made in the image of God really means, how powerful we are etc. But it is still embedded somewhat in being right and correct, and parroting answers like a good girl.
Still trying to find emotional safety in correctness, still unable to sit in nuance, unknowns, differences.
It is learning that discipleship is not just about knowledge and awareness – how many Bible verses I can quote, how many arguments I can “win” because of how smart I am in biblical knowledge.
Stage 3 + Beyond
Stage 3 + beyond can hold more nuance.
It is an ego that is not influenced by the spirit of religion anymore.
When needing to be a good parrot, right, correct fades away.. we not only save a lot time and energy – but we just stay connected to the vine, learning and operating from humility and simplicity.
It’s sitting at the feet of Jesus in humility – not in ego.
We are then left with an identity that can really begin to wrestle with God and others – with less ego – in bigger levels of unknowns, uncertainty and nuance in topics we previously fully believed were black and white.
We begin to listen more to Holy Spirit –
Asking him for more details, truths, deeper understanding – not just to KNOW but to be truly TRANSFORMED by the **actual ** renewing of our minds
We can see and hold nuance with less reactivity to those who are different..
Maybe even thinking there might be an ounce of gold I can glean here, something God might be trying to show me here..
We approach with curiosity and “mulling it over” deeply – to see what is initially unseen – before jumping to correct.
Here we no longer abandon ourselves – because we know that we don’t have to perform correctness to be deeply seen, known, loved and held by God (or others)
No longer performing the identity of the one who has all the answers, the Good Christian Girl, the smart one, the one who is always right, the one who is the best student, the one who impresses her pastor leaders or others at church, the one who withholds her real opinions thoughts feelings.. even doubts and silences her voice.
Here we walk in more freedom and energy because our ego needs to follow every impulse it feels (often to correct others to our level 1 view).
Here we are actually PLIABLE. Not in a gullible way, but in a God-way. We are finally in a place where we can receive from him.
We understand everyone is on their own journey, that I am not the saviour of the world, and that walking with God means tapping into a VASTNESS of wisdom so expansive that it reaches far beyond what I’ve always parroted, and that I always have a lot to learn.
This is not about being BETTER but they are the staes of spiritual AND emotional maturity that comes from true deep identity work that releases you from an ego still heavily influenced by the spirit of religion – even if you never even knew that it was operating.
You’re over there trying to be right.
I’m over here trying to raise your level of thinking. I do not post to be right, I post to open you to new perspectives for growth.
We are not the same.
This is why I won’t agree or often engage with your attempted corrective comments. Not because I need to be right – though this is my platform and I am responsible for its stewardship – but I do not bow the knee to spirits other than the Holy Spirit, or to those operating from a perspective that does not see nuance where I see an immense multicoloured rainbow.
May this expand you, excite you, and drive you to a depth of not just more knowledge and “awareness”, but a depth in your relationship with God you never knew possible.
LS x
