Spiritual Discipline – Pause

Before we go any farther in looking at these disciplines, there is something I think we need to clear up.

These disciplines we will be exploring are not the end.  The Christian life, discipleship, is not about being good or consistent in spiritual discipline.  No, the Christian life, discipleship is about knowing Christ more deeply and growing in our love for Him.

That is what is important.

The things we will be talking about are means.  They are the means we have to get to know Christ and thus be more and more in love with Him.

This is an important distinction.  I know those, many in fact, who have focused on getting the disciplines correct, to the point that the disciplines become the end.  Paul was like that.  He shared his journey through that into love for Christ in Philippians 3 (here @ Bible Gateway).

It would be profitable for you to invest a few minutes and read that chapter.  Notice how Paul describes how his attitude changes and especially the contrast between how he describes himself as a Jew as opposed to how he describes his pursuit of Christ…

End of pause.  Tomorrow I will pick up where we left off yesterday.

Spiritual Discipline – Abiding

Last couple of days we have looked at the notion of discipline.  Paul addresses it in 1 Timothy 4:7 – 8 (here @ Bible Gateway).  He reminds us that while bodily discipline has a little profit, spiritual discipline profits now and in eternity.  We also saw that Jesus said in John 8:31 – 32 (here @ Bible Gateway) that if we are to follow Him, we must abide in His Word.

How does that work?  Well I have written on that before.  Read this earlier blog post and then come back here.

So, to begin, why not try that out.  If you are already doing something like that, here is another idea.  This was a great idea that was presented in the film “Overcomer”.  Read through Paul’s letter to the Ephesians (here @ Bible Gateway).  Write down all the things you see in there that you are in Christ.

We will consider that in some detail tomorrow.

Spiritual Discipline

Yesterday we learned from Paul that while we need to take care of ourselves, physical discipline, spiritual discipline is much more important.

The Wheel Illustration

So, what is spiritual discipline?  The answer will depend a great deal on who you ask.  Since this is my blog, you will get my answer.  My wife and I were on the staff of the Navigators for about 10 years.  We served in the collegiate ministry.  Much of my view of spiritual disciplines comes from our experience with the Navs from being involved in the ministry before we were on staff, and as leading ministries as staff.

The founder of the Navs, Dawson Trotman, developed over the years an illustration that helped him communicate what it meant to be spiritually disciplined.  Its last form was the Wheel. 

Christ is the center and the four spokes are areas of discipline.  The rim speaks to the need of believers to obey the Lord. 

Space in one blog post doesn’t allow covering all the spokes.  In John 8:31 – 32 (here @ Bible Gateway) Jesus tells us that if we are going to be His disciples we must abide in His Word.  So, we will start there.

To abide in the Word means simply to live in it.  Practically, that suggest that we are in an intentional habit of daily engaging in the Word of God.  There are several different ways to do so.  Some are:

• Quiet Time or Devotional
• Reading
• Study
• Memorization
• Meditation

Another may be to hear.  I omitted that one from the list because in my experience those who are believers don’t have much of a problem hearing the Word and frankly it is the least effective way to engage. 

This intro has gotten longer than I anticipated.  I will extend this to tomorrow’s post and focus on Quiet Time or Devotional then.

If you have a moment, reply and tell me what you are doing in your Quiet Times.