I hear many people talk about Church and doing "spiritual things" in terms of what they get out of it.
"I go to worship to get fed."
"I meditate to become calm."
"I give my time to feel like I make a difference."
There is nothing wrong with these motivations, however they are rather superficial and very self-centered. We do things in order to "get something" out of them and when we no longer get something out of them (say worship) we stop and seek something else that we can get our "need" met.
It makes sense and is logical. We do spiritual practices in order to become better people.
That is fine, but I am not sure it is what Jesus taught.
Jesus did not teach the disciples to pray in order to become better people. Jesus did not attend worship to feel connected to God. Jesus did not fast in order to feel humbled and realize how frail we are when we are alone.
Perhaps contrary to popular understanding, Jesus did not do or teach the disciples to become better people. Jesus did not teach a moral code that would help people improve their lives, get to heaven or have better self-confidence.
The message of Jesus has little to do with becoming a better version of you.
Spiritual practices/Jesus/Christianity have everything to do with learning to die to yourself.
If we are seeking out prayer or worship or meditation or fasting in order to get something out of it, then we are really not learning what is intended. We are still seeking to become better versions of ourselves. We are seeking a version 2.0 of ourselves rather than a whole new operating system.
When we discover the "goal" of Christianity has more to do with something larger than ourselves then we are beginning to understand why spiritual practices matter.
If you are seeking to become a better person, I know that Christianity can help in some ways. However, if we are content at "arriving" at being better people then we will always miss the larger point of Christianity and we will always be on the look out for the next spiritual thing that will "fulfill" our need.