Eastern mysticism and most of the worlds religions
and philosophies are about progressing spiritually: Working on my self through mystical
techniques to achieve inner peace or some state of bliss like Nirvana or achieving ever
higher spiritual states or degrees; Working on my self
through various things that I, myself do. Ultimately "working my way to heaven"
in some sense.
The Christianity of the Bible is about enemies of God
becoming reconciled to God through Jesus Christ in order to live in an eternal love relationship with God.
Christianity is about a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. A relationship is
about: Spending time with Jesus; Talking to Jesus... prayer; Listening to Jesus as the
Holy Spirit speaks truth to us through the written Word of God; Trusting and obeying
Jesus; Performing good works that he has prepared for us to do - serving God and serving
people.
A body builder, for example, works on himself by a
discipline of weight lifting to build big muscles.
The Bible does not teach that we are to "work on ourselves" through the
discipline of techniques. The Bible teaches that we are to
pursue our relationship with Jesus, letting him bear fruit in our lives by abiding in the Vine, John 15. The Holy Spirit bears fruit in our
lives as we walk in the Spirit, Galatians 5 and 6.
Do you see the distinction between a relationship with a Person vs. disciplines
and techniques to work on ourselves?
