When Christians have thought about the spiritual life, we have thought it to be one of moderating our emotions or developing our knowledge. In the middle ages, spirituality was a human trait in response to God. That trait might have been to be silent, to fast, to manage rituals, or to help others. In the Reformation, spirituality was the knowledge of God.
What we notice about the spiritual life is that it is the life of God in us. As Richard Hooker said, The cause of life spiritual in us is Christ, not carnally or corporally inhabiting, but dwelling in the soul of man. Normally we call that union with Christ. Yet, Jesus says--Where I am you cannot come. He may have been referring to the cross, certainly we cannot go there. But can we exert ourselves to be like Him?
To the Ephesians Paul writes about what was before time:
He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself according to the kind intention of His will to the praise of the glory of His grace--Eph. 1.4ff
Now all of that happened before the foundation of the world; there was no place, no act, no object to see. We cannot appropriate it in any way but to ask for the Holy Spirit. Our spiritual life begins when se start as we are, seeking a way to receive such glorious insight as told by Paul. We are not seeking a transaction, a rite, or a duty but a presence.
We ask--Who am I? We are chosen before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless
We ask--What is my purpose in life? We are to be adopted as sons and daughters through Christ
We ask--What does life mean? We are to the praise of the glory of his grace.
To comprehend that we were chosen; to comprehend gthat we were chosen by God before time and space; to comprehend that were were chosen before God--now this can be received by the Holy Spirit.
To believe that we are not vagrant souls adrift; to believe that we are adopted by God; to believe that we are sons and daughters through the Son of God--now this takes nothing less than faith. Yet faith is not a slight wishing, but the desire that the invisibility of God would withdraw like a wave falling from a slanted shore. In our desire to see God is God's desire to be known by us.
How do we bring such contemplation into our souls? Paul prays that--a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him...that you may know what is the hope of His calling in the saints and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe--Eph 1.17. Now that's a prayer. A spirit of wisdom and revelation. The knowledge of Him. The hope of His calling of us. All of these things Paul wishes us to comprehend through a--spirit of wisdom and revelation. Paul finishes the chapter by saying all of this is revealed in the church, Christ's body. We can imagine what it means that this happens in Christ's body by the thought that the revelation of Him is within Him. It is as if we were in a room of a church admiring the paintings on the walls. It is in Him that the revelation of Him comes, and through Him we see ourselves as His image.
Teh spiritual life is the act of receiving. An interesting passage is Luke 8.46-48. A woman touches Jesus--for I was aware that power had gone out of Me. The woman then, knowing she was known by Him, falls down before him. When the power went out of Him, here is the--surpassing greatness of the power to us who believe--when she came to Him for healing, here is the knowledge--that you may know what is the hope of His calling--here is the faith as she--declared in the presence of all the people the reason why she had touched Him.
Through her faith she has received. Her faith was her desire to see God and be seen by Him. For this Job cried out(Job30.26); for this Mses stuttered(Exodus 4.10); for this the Greeks sought Him(John 12.20); for this Paul was chosen(Acts 9.15); for this we receive by faith to enter His presence.
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