Oceans in the Desert

By Kathi Pelton

The Lord has recently been speak to me about believers that are either stuck in cycles of guilt/condemnation or in a place the He called “hyper-spirituality.” Often these people know that they are not living in a balanced or correct Christian lifestyle or understanding Godly perspective but they don’t seem to be able to get free.

What is hyper-spirituality and how does it manifest in a life? Sometimes it manifests in self abasement and other times in arrogance— it is often two sides of the same coin. But both tend to be rooted in self-importance or in the works of the flesh that to try to earn right standing with God.

These individuals constantly labor in a life of earning or adding to the finished work of the cross of Christ. Somehow the free gift of salvation through grace is just too good to comprehend or accept. They often spend their time in continual self-searching for failures or how they may have ruined their life. The flip side of this hyper-spiritual living are those who believe that they have somehow arrived in a state of “personal goodness” through their own works. This posture gives them a sense of living in a higher place than other believers. Yet, secretly they have to strive to maintain that place to feel right with God— vain imaginations often accompany these individuals which isolates them and causes them to walk in an air of spiritual arrogance.

Hyper-spirituality usually consists of constant condemnation or of spiritual arrogance but both have replaced true conviction that comes from the Spirit of God with self evaluation and judgments based on that assessment.

The finished work of the cross is just that— it is finished and it is complete. You cannot add nor subtract from it. We can trust His Spirit, that lives within every believer, to convict of sin (we cannot be our own Holy Spirit), to search our hearts and to usher us into a balanced place of confidence and humility. The imbalance of self abasement or arrogance creates a hyper-spirituality that steals freedom, confidence and humility. It steals true conviction and it robs the believer of joy, truth and true intimacy.

Jesus did for us what we could never do for ourselves through the law or through our own works. Under the law— if man believed he actually lived up to it he became pharisaical, leading to arrogance. In this case, the person has to maintain this “facade” through human strength that almost always leaves them living in hypocrisy and having hidden sin. Or, in contrast, those who believe that they will never live up to God’s standards and spend their lives in condemnation and regret— becoming victims of their own humanity and weakness and living as absolute failures as their core identity. Both are vain imaginations.

I recently found this quote that speaks so clearly in defining hyper-spirituality:

“Hyper-spirituality is what happens when we (usually implicitly) think that obedience to God and giving glory to God is about payback. We turn astonishment over the gospel into fuel for measuring up. We assume God requires a nearly monastic attention from us, a focus so self-consciously rigorous it must understand the concept of freedom in Christ in ways that don’t sound much like freedom. We may think that obedience to God is how we fill up the standard for his approval. We may think we are filling our time with God’s glory when we are really filling it with self-righteousness.” Jared C. Wilson

If you find that you fall into one of these “hyper-spiritual” patterns— stop right now and ask Holy Spirit to set you free. Ask forgiveness for trying to add to the finished work of the cross through self-righteousness or subtracting from the finished work of the cross through condemnation and self punishment. Renounce standing over your life as your own personal Holy Spirit that judges yourself on your personal goodness or personal wretchedness. Invite the Holy Spirit to come in and bring true conviction that leads to freedom, truth, confidence and humility. Receive the finished work of the cross of Christ into your life and begin to experience truth thankfulness and joy in your salvation. Amen!

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