There’s an old joke that goes something like this:
Question: In a bacon-and-egg breakfast, what’s the difference between the Chicken and the Pig?
Answer: The Chicken is involved, but the Pig is committed!
I thought of that as I read this morning’s devotional from Numbers 28-29. At first glance, it seems like a rather long and arcane discourse on ancient sacrificial rites — and it is! But, as you might expect by now, it really reveals some important spiritual truths that are critically relevant to the 21st century.
A 2001 study found that over 20% of those surveyed described themselves as “spiritual but not religious.” In 2017, Barna found that 93 percent of those who described themselves as “spiritual”, but say that their religious faith is not very important in their life, haven’t attended church in the last 6 months. Over 55% of them didn’t affiliate with a particular faith at all. Many were athiest, or agnostic, or simply didn’t subscribe to a particular faith, but all described themselves as spiritual.
If you’ve ever had discussions with a stranger about spiritual things, and particularly if you’ve ever spent any significant amount of time witnessing to the public at large, you have run into these people. They believe in spiritual things, and want to be connected, but they aren’t committed to a particular faith or denomination.
I think there are a number of interesting observations to be drawn from these people. Obviously they believe in a spiritual component of the human experience. They have some awareness of/belief in the spiritual realm, however they choose to define it. They recognize that there is something more than just what we can see, hear, touch, taste, etc. There is another dimension to humanity.
Also, by describing themselves as “spiritual,” they obviously are expressing a desire to be connected with the spiritual realm in some way. They see value in the unseen realm — perhaps to fill an emotional need, or explain the otherwise unexplainable, or whatever. “God” — however they perceive him or her — can meet a felt need.
But by describing themselves as “not religious,” they are rejecting any sort of formal doctrine or standard for their spiritual beliefs. In other words, for them the “spiritual” is whatever they want/need/desire it to be, but nothing undesireable. There is no objective spiritual reality or structure which might conflict with their comfort. Specifically, these people typically don’t want to be bound to any particular set of “rules” which might be inconvenient. Frequently they will describe — and reject — such strictures as “legalism.” Thus, for example, these people don’t see the need to attend church, because church attendance would not meet the felt need they are trying to address. It would be an imposition, a formality which doesn’t coincide with their wants/needs/desires. In other words, like the chicken, these people want to be involved in the spiritual life, but not committed.
Lest you think I am being a bit sanctimonious, we can observe the same behavior inside the visible church. I have known professed Christians to change not just churches, but denominations and even faiths (i.e. from Presbyterian to Catholic, or Methodist to Mormon) based on such things as music preference, preaching style, and relationships (to name just a few), without regard to doctrine or theology. In fact, one of my neighbors changed from Methodist to Mormon, but expressed to me the belief that they are not really very different, or different from my own Presbyterian faith.
This reflects more than a simple lack of theological or doctrinal training (although it does reflect that!). On a more fundamental level, these “spiritual but not religious” people are the embodiment of an acknowledgement and desire to connect with God (a need that is built into every human being by his and her Creator), but only on their terms (a desire that was introduced into every human being by Adam and Eve’s original sin).
The problem these people run into is that God rejected this idea in no uncertain terms when he laid out the annual sacrificial structure he required of the Israelites. In Numbers 28 and 29, we see that God required an enormous number of animals to be sacrificed to him throughout the year: 2 lambs every day; 2 additional lambs every week; 2 bulls, 1 ram, 7 lambs and 1 goat every month; and a whole slew of lambs, bulls, rams and goats for the various festivals — for a total of approximately 1093 lambs, 37 rams, 113 bulls, and 30 goats annually. And that doesn’t even count the flour (over a ton), oil and wine (over a thousand bottles)!
You see, God doesn’t allow us to connect or relate to Him on our terms. In Numbers He told the Israelites very clearly what it was going to take for them to connect with Him, and it wasn’t cheap! The poorest Hebrews frequently couldn’t even afford a single lamb, much less a ram. And a bull was incredibly expensive. God made provisions for those people, but the bottom line is that to have a relationship with God is costly. It’s His terms, or not at all.
The “good news” (which is a literal translation of the word “gospel”) is that God Himself has provided all of the sacrifice He requires, in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus provided all of the value, paid all of the cost for us to connect with and have a relationship with God the Father. All we have to do is believe in Jesus — who he is, and what he did. But make no mistake: this, too, is costly. You can’t just be involved, you must be willing to be committed.
He will meet us where we are, but on His terms, not ours.
