Fairy Tales (Continued)

To many people it would be considered ironic to speak of pragmatism and Christianity in the same breath. Christians are usually considered by worldly people to be the most impractical of all people.
I feel it is important to look into this word describing a demographic, e.g. ‘worldly people.’
It never seems to fail that in trying to establish a definitive demarcation, one immediately is accused of this: ‘an, us verses them’ mentality. The thing is God himself has clearly already done this; there are only two groups of people, those who are in Christ or those still in Adam!
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The worldly (physically oriented) person sees and understands the things in their life as primarily intellectual and physical. Thinking that is bounded by physical and psychological existence I will refer to as worldly thinking (understanding, seeing etc.). Thinking, seeing and understanding that includes a spiritual component I refer to as spiritual understanding. This is to say that people who restrict their thinking to the worldly view (physical and mental existence) see reality as defined by the bounds established by physical law and human psychology. By calling this “worldly understanding” I am not trying to insinuate that this is evil. My point here is that this is merely an incomplete or unnecessarily limited view.

With a worldly view and understanding, the spiritual side of reality is unknown and unknowable. A physical/psychological view of reality can, at best, only see the spiritual as a subset of existence. To the physically oriented mind, the spiritual side of reality is a sideshow in life. The spiritual is something that, to the worldly minded person, we can take or leave as we choose. The spiritual side of reality is seen by the physically based mentality as something that is, at best, subsidiary to “real” (physical/psychological) life.
Further, in such a physical view the true nature of any issue is unknown and unknowable.
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Christians are often seen as inherent dreamers and not very deeply in touch with the “real world.” I believe that these views of Christianity have grown up because real Christianity is rarely seen in this world. What most people see (and practice) in this world is religion and not Christianity. Christianity, real Christianity, is a state of being and a personal relationship with the Father.
Religion is outward works, rites and rituals. Religion is primarily about looking good smelling good and doing the “right things.”
Real Christianity is about living and further, Christianity is a life not to be seen.

The spiritual is invisible to the physical. This has always been understood: “so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:4) This is part of the reason that worldly people consider the Christian to be impractical. However, this does not mean that the spiritual has no impact or discernible effect on the physical. In fact, the wonder and beauty of real Christianity is that it is the only thing that can really make a positive change in our living. The rest of the world is living under the great illusion that they can (and do) change their lives. The truth is that humanity has plowed on for millennia in the same way because they cannot, apart from the Father’s influence, change anything for the better.

Rich