A sacred pathway “describes the way we relate to God, how we draw near to him.” These are certain predispositions for communing with God. We may have a few predominant pathways, which make up our spiritual temperament. Gary Thomas write about this in his book Sacred Pathways: Discover Your Soul’s Path To God. This can help us see the different ways in which God has created us to worship Him. Yes, there might be wrong ways to worship Him, but that doesn’t mean there’s just a “one-size-fits-all” type of worship either. You’ve seen it play out as well. We’ve even formed denominations that promote a certain pathway of worship while demoting another. One church may emphasize gifts of the Holy Spirit, while another emphasizes systematic theology and Bible study. Still another focuses on liturgies and tradition. Yet, the church down the street goes outside its walls and feeds the poor.

 

Which one is right? Well, people are different. I believe we should worship God through many different ways according to which He formed us, while also, practicing ways of worship that are harder for us to grow.

 

Here are the nine sacred pathways:

“Naturalists learn to seek God by surrounding themselves with all that he has made.”

 

“There are things that God has made which overwhelm with a sense of his omnipotence: how can men see them, and doubt the existence of the Deity?” -Charles Spurgeon

 

When sensates worship, “they want to be filled with sights, sounds, and smells that overwhelm them. The five senses are God’s most effective inroad to their hearts.”

 

Sound – music

Smell – incense

Touch – baptism

Sight – icons

Taste – communion

 

“Traditionalists are fed by what are often termed the historic dimensions of faith: rituals, symbols, sacraments, and sacrifice.”

 

“Ascetics want nothing more than to be left alone in prayer. Let there be nothing to distract them – no pictures, no loud music – and leave them alone to pray in silence and simplicity.”

 

“Activists serve a God of justice…They define worship as standing against evil and calling sinners to repentance.”

 

“So often people think that Christianity is only something soft, only a kind of gooey love that loves evil equally with good. This is not the biblical position. The holiness of God is to be exhibited simultaneously with love.” -Francis Schaeffer

 

Caregivers “often claim to see Christ in the poor and needy, and their faith is built up by interacting with other people.”

 

“Excitement and mystery in worship is the spiritual lifeblood of enthusiasts.” They are “cheerleaders for God and the Christian life.”

 

Contemplatives “seek to love God with the purest, deepest, and brightest love imaginable.” It’s less about serving, doing, or obeying and more about being with God.

 

“Intellectuals need their minds to be stirred before their hearts come truly alive. They feel closest to God when they first understand something new about Him.”

 

What does your garden look like? God has planted a garden in our lives. They all look different with each person. But these Sacred Pathways help us tend our spiritual gardens. As we tend and cultivate different aspects of worship, we will be able to see many advantages in this approach. It will help us expand our hearts, especially in our one-on-one time with God. We won’t just see our relationship with God as linear but cyclical, ever expanding and growing over and over again in new ways. It now becomes about the journey instead of just a destination. Understanding the sacred pathways will also help us get out of a rut. Many Christians feel stuck in a spiritual malaise. It’s not that they don’t want to be there; they just don’t know how to get out of it. When we see different aspects of worship unto God, the journey will lead out not only out of that rut of survival, but into fulfillment and a thriving spiritual life.

 

Check out the book and discover your sacred pathway.