A Closer Walk

Spiritual Detox


I'm not sure why I did it. It was one of those "out-of-the-box" experiences, for sure. I spent a week at a health center in California, for an "extreme detox". It was supposed to be a mind, body, spirit cleansing. The spiritual part was not what I considered spiritual. There was no mention of Jesus or God the Father.
As I was eating only raw vegetables and fruit, and flushing all the bad toxins out of my body, it made me wonder what a true spiritual detox would look like. At the health center we focused on filling our body and mind with things that were healthy and beneficial. At the same time, letting go or releasing things that were bad for our body and mind, or no longer served a good purpose.
For a spiritual detox I can imagine letting go of things that do not serve to bring us closer to the Lord. There are magazines, music, TV shows, movies and web sites that certainly do not honor God and don't serve a beneficial purpose for us spiritually. On the other hand, there are healthy things we can add to enhance our relationship with the Lord. We can spend more time in prayer, reading the Bible, joining a Bible study group and listening to praise music.
But is that it? Bad stuff out and good stuff in? No, the health center detox was more than that. With a good detox there was a peace that was experienced. There were five P's to the health program: purpose, positive mental attitude, persistence, patience and prayer.
To spiritually detox the purpose would be to grow closer to the Lord. To keep a positive mental attitude, we need to ask God's forgiveness when we mess up instead of carrying our guilt around. We also need to view ourselves as God views us, as a child of the King, a princess, not whatever negative label we have chosen. We need to be persistant with our Bible study and ask the Lord to help us understand the parts that are difficult.
We need to be patient with others and ourselves. We are all at different places on our spiritual journey. Usually, we need to just take the next step on our path. Of course, spiritual detox would not be complete without prayer, talking to the Father. Ask Him to fill us with His love, joy, peace, patience, and kindness.
I feel better already. How about you?