Marks of the Spiritual Man

“True spirituality manifests itself in certain dominant desires:

1) First is the desire to be holy rather than happy.  The yearning after happiness found so widely among Christians professing a superior degree of sanctity is sufficient proof that such sanctity is not indeed present.  The truly spiritual man knows that God will give abundance of joy after we have become able to receive it without injury to our souls, but he does not demand it at once.

2) A man may be considered spiritual when he wants to see the honor of God advanced through his life even if it means that he himself must suffer temporary dishonor or loss.  Such a man prays “Hallowed be Thy name,” and silently adds, “at any cost to me, Lord.”  He lives for God’s honor by a kind of spiritual reflex.  Every choice involving the glory of God is for him already made before it presents itself.  He does not need to debate the matter with his own heart; there is nothing to debate. The glory of God is necessary to him; he gasps for it as a suffocating man gasps for air.

3) The spiritual man wants to carry his cross.  Many Christians accept adversity or tribulation with a sigh and call it their cross, forgetting that such things come alike to saint and sinner.  The cross is that extra adversity that comes to us as a result of our obedience to Christ.  This cross is not forced upon us; we voluntarily take it up with full knowledge of the consequences.  We choose to obey Christ and by so doing choose to carry the cross. Carrying a cross means to be attached to the Person of Christ, committed to the Lordship of Christ and obedient to the commandments of Christ.  The man who is so attached, so committed, so obedient is a spiritual man.”

~A. W. Tozer~