The Most Important Aspect of your Spiritual Life
Before continuing to read, pause and think about the answer to this question:
What is the most important aspect of your spiritual life?
Not what’s necessary.
Not what’s valuable.
Not what’s important.
But what is most important? What is ultimate?
I love so much about my life in Christ. And all of it matters. Without exaggeration, many of these things are a matter of life and death. For example…
Theology
I love theology. I love studying it. I love precision of thought and clarity about who God is.
Without theology, we would not have a right understanding of who God actually is. It guards us from inventing Him. If we’re not anchored in how God has revealed Himself, we will inevitably reshape Him into something more comfortable, more manageable, more like us.
And when that happens, it’s not just immaturity. It’s idolatry.
So theology matters. It matters deeply.
But it is not the most important aspect of your spiritual life.
Evangelism
Over 150,000 people die every day around the world. Many of them have never heard the name of Jesus. Many others have not heard Him presented clearly or been given an accurate representation of the Gospel. The Bible teaches that apart from faith in Christ, we are lost and under judgment.
The church exists to make Christ known — to seek and save the lost. The advancement of the Gospel is not a side project. It is a primary reason for our existence.
Evangelism matters.
But evangelism is not the most important aspect of your spiritual life.
Sanctification
In simpler terms: becoming more like Jesus.
The Bible says that those whom God foreknew, He predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. That means this is not optional. God intends to shape you into the image of Christ — your thoughts, your character, your words, your habits.
It’s not enough to know doctrine or to preach truth. If your life doesn’t reflect Christ, something is broken.
Sanctification matters.
But still — it is not the most important aspect of your spiritual life.
You can keep going down the list.
Discipleship.
Biblical literacy.
Church commitment.
Unity.
Spiritual disciplines.
Prayer.
Fasting.
Serving.
…All of it is essential. But none of it is ultimate.
If you reduce the Christian life to its core — the thing everything else exists to support — it is this: Your relationship with Jesus Christ.
And I don’t mean that in a sentimental or vague way. I mean:
Do you actually know Him?
Do you love Him?
Do you treasure Him?
Are you with Him?
You can master theology and still be far from Him. Satan’s theology is better than your favorite preacher’s favorite preacher. He knows exactly who God is — and he hates Him.
You can preach the Gospel and call others to surrender while your own heart is cold. You can clean up your behavior. You can discipline your life. You can look spiritually mature.
But apart from real union with Christ — not performance, not platform, not head knowledge — it’s just religious polish. It’s cleaning the outside of the cup.
The most important aspect of your spiritual life is not what you produce.
It’s whether you are actually walking with Jesus.
Everything else flows from that.
Or it becomes empty.
As I’ve been contemplating everything we’ve been doing in 90 Days to Die, I see and believe in the spiritual value in it. But to be honest, it’s all meaningless apart from union with Christ. All of these disciplines — if they are not aimed at deepening our relationship and communion with Him — run the risk of making us religiously impressive but spiritually dead.
So yes, do all the things. But keep the main thing the main thing.
Meditate on these words from Christ in John 15:
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. Every branch in me that does not produce fruit he removes, and he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.”
— John 15:1–5 (CSB)