After his Dad’s recent narrow escape of a sniper’s bullet, Donald Trump Jr., in several interviews said, “I’m not an overly spiritual guy but,” and went on to say, his Dad’s near death experience certainly looked like a miracle.
After hearing those words several times, I wondered, what does “overly spiritual” mean.
President Trump himself seems to have no doubt about escaping the Near miss (nor do I). The former President said in a recent interview with Mark Levin, “It was God!” That seemed truthful and not “overly spiritual.”
There have been times in my life when I was concerned, much like Donald Jr., about appearing to be “overly spiritual.”
My Mom was “overly spiritual.” She made all us kids (4) go to Sunday School and Church. There were no exceptions, I do not recall any of us being asked if we wanted to go. There was no discussion about going. We got dressed, we got in the car, and off we went to Sunday School and Church. It was automatic. I have my Perfect Attendance medals to prove it.
To her credit, she did not just take us and drop us off as some did and some do today. She and Dad went to Sunday School and church with us.
But that was a different time.
I eventually developed an unstated goal; to be old enough to not have to go to Sunday School and Church.
In my later teens, I found myself in the Navy, and I thought that was surely it. The Navy will not make me go to church.
Boot Camp at Great Lakes Naval Training Center was thirteen weeks of physical and mental challenges and testing cleverly disguised as training. It was the winter of the famous Ice Bowl game between the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys. The game was played at Lambeau Field in Green Bay Wisconsin, just up the road a bit from Boot Camp. Did I mention it was cold; very, very cold! Some reports say it was -13°F at game time.
If you have been through Navy Boot Camp, you might have found it demanding both physically and mentally, as did I. At least it was then. That is as it should be.
In Boot Camp, I discovered Sundays had an optional activity. Not many things were optional in Boot Camp. This optional activity was called Divine Worship. I did not know that was Navy talk for Church. Divine Worship was attractive to me for one reason, it offered an opportunity to get out of the barracks, if only for a short while.
If I went, in my young mind, I thought I might appear “overly spiritual.” Those were not my actual words at the time, but it was my thought. I was a platoon leader, and I wanted my platoon to respect me. What if they saw me going to church? That would certainly not embellish my tough guy image. So, what to do?
I chose to go to church, if only to break the monotony of Boot Camp. My Mom would have been proud.
After Boot Camp, I moved on to the real Navy. I no longer went to Divine Worship.
But I digress:
I am still uncertain what saying, “I’m not an overly spiritual guy” means? Is it an apology? Is it a personal feeling about one’s life? Possibly it’s an attempt to not be confused with those who actually are, spiritual guys.
If it infers a comparison with a spiritual guy, as I think it might, how then would a spiritual guy be defined? Where is the line between spiritual and “overly spiritual?”
Is an “overly spiritual” guy one who attends church regularly, while someone not “overly spiritual” would attend only occasionally, Christmas and Easter, and possibly Thanksgiving, plus the obligatory funerals, and weddings?
Is an “overly spiritual” guy one who might regularly read from God’s Word the Bible, while one who does not spend time in God’s word, might be thought of as not “overly spiritual?”
Would an “overly spiritual” guy have a Biblical worldview, understanding that there is a God and that He has a plan, while a not “overly spiritual guy,” might think we are somehow born of the cosmos and just here on our own to do the best we can?
Would a “not overly spiritual guy” think the Bible is just a collection of ancient stories old ladies tell kids in Sunday School? That was me at one time.
Does the “not overly spiritual guy” not pray? Or if he does, at least not often and not publicly, usually appropriating the public prayers of others. That was me.
Does an “overly spiritual guy” believe in miracles? A not “overly spiritual guy” not so much?
What does a “not overly spiritual guy” do when confronted by life situations fitting the description of that oft overlooked word, miracle? Where do you place something that has all the appearances of a miracle in your thought process?
In September of 1620, a group of people, men, women, and children whom we call Pilgrims left Plymouth England seeking a place where they could worship their God as they chose. We know their story. They read and studied the Bible, considered it to be God’s word to them, and practiced its teachings.
History tells us they prayed on their dangerous journey in those small wooden boats and also after their arrival on a strange, cold, and hostile shore. Some back then might have called these people “overly spiritual,” many today surely would.
This particular view of what many might call an “overly spiritual” people is foundational to our great nation. Should we not find ways to be more like them?
We should be thankful for those pilgrims.
A man named John Wesley, who called himself a missionary, was on a return journey from the new American colonies to England. Also aboard his ship were some “overly spiritual people.” They were “Moravians.” Their great faith was evident in their singing and praying even in the face of great danger, when it seemed storms at sea would be end of them all.
After his safe arrival in London, thoughts of these people whom John might have considered “overly spiritual,” added to the words he heard from the pulpit in an evening service at a church on Aldersgate Street. He wrote, “I felt my heart strangely warmed.”
God worked in John Wesley’s life, and he became a preacher, sharing God’s word on street corners. Eventually, he founded the Methodist Church, an evangelical force in England, and then the American colonies.
We should be thankful for John Wesley, who many might call an “overly spiritual” guy and those “overly spiritual” Moravian people who influenced his life.
In 1748, in yet another storm at sea, Captain John Newton feared the loss of both his ship and his life. After arriving in Ireland physically broken and his ship battered, God worked in his life, and he eventually became an evangelical preacher in Olney England. His experience with the storm at sea allowed him to write the famous hymn we know as Amazing Grace.
The former slave ship captain went on to write and preach against slavery.
We should be thankful for John Newton, who some might have called an “overly spiritual” guy.
If we ourselves do not want to be thought of as “overly spiritual,” we should at least be thankful for the presence around us of those who don’t mind.
When I fell with a radio tower I was working on many years ago, I was left wondering how to explain my miraculous survival. There was little doubt I should have died on that Kansas hill. Eventually, as a believing Christian, I settled on the thought that God still had something left for me to do, and it really had been, in fact, a miracle. I still believe that to be true and the experience helped me become a more spiritual guy…but maybe not an “overly spiritual” one.
I do not know many Christians who set out determined to be labeled “overly spiritual.” But sometimes having a Biblical perspective on life might lead you, in this crazy mixed-up world, to make life choices different from those around you, and you might appear to be a bit different, even “overly spiritual” to some. But that could be a good thing.
A quick look into God’s Word will show you that God used lots of guys who did not really care if they were “overly spiritual” or not. They had a mission to carry out, and it was just who they were.
There was David a King. You remember him, the shepherd boy with the five smooth stones and the giant enemy. There was the Apostle Paul a tent maker, there were the disciples, fishermen, business owners, a tax collector, a zealot who wanted to overthrow the Roman government, even a thief for goodness’ sake, and a doctor. They may or may not have appeared as “overly spiritual” to those around them, but there is no evidence they cared, and God used them, some in a mighty way. God specializes in using guys like that.
One can take great confidence when your world seems to be fallin apart, from those who handle bad situations with great grace and confidence. Just ask John Wesley.
To make my long story a bit shorter, there came a time when I discovered interesting words in the Apostle John’s First Epistle, in Chapter 5 verse 13. The apostle writes, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.” I came to understand understood those words applied to me.
It was not long after that I trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and became a spiritual guy…but maybe not overly so.
Have a wonderful day!