Spiritual Disciplines

One book that I highly recommend is SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES FOR THE CHRISTIAN LIFE by Donald S. Whitney. Donald walks through a list of disciplines that we, as Christians, should strive to develop in our lives. I have starting reading this book for the second time and I'm going to attempt to share my summary and thoughts of each chapter. This post will focus on chapter one, The Spiritual Disciplines...For The Purpose of Godliness.

Today we hear a lot about diet and exercise. There are so many different diet plans and an equal number of people who claim to have the best method of losing weight and getting healthier. Just like we need to discipline ourselves for physical benefits, we need to also discipline ourselves for spiritual benefits. Diet and exercise, as well as, something like learning a musical instrument or gymnastics can seem like such a waste of time if there's no goal out there to reach for. Whatever you do, if you can picture yourself down the road having mastered that skill and using it in great ways, then you'll probably be more motivated early on to the time needed for practice, practice, practice. Whitney says in his book, "Discipline without direction is drudgery." That is so true. If we have no direction in what we're doing then all the work put in to it can seem meaningless.

So, what is discipline and what is the purpose, or goal, of spiritual discipline? 1 Timothy 4:7 spells it out pretty clearly. "Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness" NASB. Our goal is to be more like Christ everyday and we need to discipline ourselves in spiritual disciplines. The disciplines Whitney talks about in his book are (and this is not an all-inclusive list) scripture reading, prayer, worship, scripture mediation, evangelism, serving, stewardship, scripture application, fasting, silence and solitude, journaling, and learning. By working to discipline ourselves in these areas we will grow in our knowledge and relationship with God for the purpose of godliness.

I don't want to give the impression that I'm saying we need to "work" at all these things for salvation. There is nothing we have done or could do to achieve salvation apart from what Jesus did for us on the cross. As the old hymn says, "Jesus paid it all". Romans 10:9 says, "because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Once we have come to this point where we have trusted Jesus as our savior, our goal should be godliness. And that's where these spiritual discipline come in.

Whitney says in his book that there are 3 main things that God uses to change us. They are:
1. People - Family, friends, and even enemies.
2. Circumstances - Financial stresses, sickness, and even the weather.
3. Spiritual Disciplines

The first two are things we really can't do anything about and they usually change us from the outside in. Spiritual disciplines, on the other hand, change us from the inside out and we do have some say as to how we'll use them. We can't decide who our family will be but we can decide if we'll read the Bible today or spend time meditating on His Word. These disciplines are ways we can put ourselves in God's path like Zacchaeus and Bartimaeus did. They knew the Lord was passing by and they did what they needed to do to be in His path so they could encounter Him. We need to deliberately put ourselves in God's path for Him to change us.

All too many people discipline theirselves for worldly things and too few of us discipline ourselves for the purpose of godliness. Whitney describes people like this as "Spiritually they are a mile wide and an inch deep. There are no deep, time-worn channels of communing discipline between them and God. They have dabbled in everything but disciplined themselves in nothing."

I don't want to be a mile wide and an inch deep. I would rather be an inch wide and a mile deep when it comes to godliness. That's when we have a close, personal, life changing relationship with God that will be one that draws others to want the same thing.

As I go through this book and touch on all the different disciplines, I'll share my thoughts and how I'm attemping to discipline myself for godliness. I pray that it will be informative and encouraging. Please leave questions, comments, thoughts, etc. so this can be as helpful as possible.

This is suppose to be a lifelong endevor. The only time we can really say we're finished with these disciplines is when we are in His presence.