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 byabiding 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?
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