Outsourced Spirituality

If you find it hard to stay in a spiritual fitness program, you might consider hooking up with a spiritual director. The movement is booming. While this might be a good thing, the apostle Paul says God has given each person individually, and the church collectively, all the gifts necessary for strong spiritual health.

"We've trivialized God," says Larry Crabb, a Christian psychologist and popular author. "Most of these [self-help] books assume God is the butler who serves you for one reason -- to give you a happy life. We've turned him into a divine Prozac." Are Christians more interested in building personal comfort zones than in building community and ministering to the lost and oppressed?

We live in the ME-lennium. Don't like your version of the Bible? Then look for one suited for your situation: The Teen Bible, The Addict's Bible, The Single Mom's Bible. Need some chicken soup? Need to look for chicken soup for the Golfer's Soul, or chicken soup for the Nurse's Soul, or the Teen, or the PreTeen, or the Gardener's Soul, or the Unsinkable Soul, or the Traveler's Soul? For the Tired of Chicken Soup Soul?

This is the ME-lennium all right. That's why we're outsourcing so much of what we once thought we needed to do ourselves. The business world, of course, has long outsourced some of its work rather...