Spirituality is the immediate result of your commitment to walk The Way. You may do certain things that will help you develop and maintain your spirituality like to study Scripture, meditate and attend church. It is not only a state of mind; it is also the result of your thinking. It is your attitude. Your spirituality will reflect immediately in your lifestyle, habits and thinking. The way you treat people will reflect the state of your spirituality. In other words, your actions reflect the relationship you have with God. This is spirituality.

Asceticism

The Saviour teaches us to be frugal, ascetic and to be good stewards over our God given gifts. Nothing is really ours, we are at most the appointed stewards of the Creator=s gifts and if we neglect that duty we should expect to be replaced by more worthy servants. We should enjoy our gifts and we should share its joys with others but we may not think of ourselves as the creators or owners of the happiness.

One can write quite a number of books on this topic, so we should find a succinct way to say much about this fascinating concept. Here are some common sense discussions that can serve to get the point across.

While it is good and often necessary to buy an expensive vehicle it is never to be excused if the vehicle of choice is exorbitantly expensive. Not to compare oneself to the norm, the norm is often quite sick, but to compare the expense against what the excess money could buy in terms of alleviating need among the less fortunate. Lets put it this way. If car A-Lux costs $ 30 000 and is a major ego pusher, and car D-Standard costs $20 000 but is less of an ego booster, and is as reliable a vehicle than the other, then we are overspending by $10 000. This would be OK if the $10 000 was a negligible amount but in this case it is not. That money can run many a welfare organization in India for a year, reaching hundreds of very needy people. $10 000 is enough money to put at least 2 third world children through 12 years of school and into a BA degree program. Alternatively that money is good to feed 328 starving children for one whole year. Meaning, if you can spare $30, you can help feed an otherwise starving child in Africa for a whole year!

During 1998 Mr. Bill Gates, Executive Director of Microsoft Corporation, donated the equivalent of South Africa=s combined Policing and Defense budget to welfare, in his private capacity. Time Magazine did not neglect to make a snide remark about the tax break Mr. Gates bought with this gift, as if Time Warner does so much for welfare. But the materialistic criticism is good for Mr. Gates because he is not getting his reward here on earth in the form of major public recognition, since it is fashionable to regard the man as an evil, but the Ultimate Operating System in the sky will reward him.