Explaining their enthusiasm for prayer time, some women at my church recently said, " When I spend time with Jesus first thing in the morning, I just feel better and more focused the whole day". My husband criticized them for using Jesus as their morning coffee. I'm not sure I agree with his negativity here, but it made me think -- what are we hoping to get from religion?
I can think of many possibilities - a sense of affiliation, justification for self-righteousness, a purpose for life, a way to explain the world, comfort for painful times, a connection to historical and family tradition, a community of friends, or a way to get energized in the morning. Does it matter what we're looking for? I think it does. The way we approach our spiritual journey depends on what our goals are. If what we really want is truth, then our exploration of faith will be full of open-mindedness and critical thinking. We won't be afraid to consider alternatives to what we are used to, because we will only be concerned with discovering what is true. If our primary motivation for being involved with religion is something else, however, we may feel threatened by different possibilities. This is not to say necessarily that the other reasons are bad, only that our spiritual journies will be very different if seeking truth is not foremost in our minds.
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