The value of spiritual disciplines

 

Most Christians know what spiritual disciplines are: Bible reading and study, prayer, worship, fellowship, silence, and others. Some might suppose these make us more spiritual, but it is God that does that. The disciplines merely put us in places where we can experience His transforming power. On the other hand, if I do them all but refuse to obey, these disciplines have little value.

One detour to spiritual growth is thinking I cannot grow in less than perfect surroundings. However, that is often the situation for flourishing if I remain faithful to the disciplines and remember the truths God has taught me and still teaches, truth like:

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3)

This is an important “place of grace’ in that it puts the flesh where it belongs and centers life in Christ, where it actually is — even if the world, the flesh, and the Liar keep telling me otherwise. Jesus is the source of my life and I need to remain in that thinking, abide in it. This means all my thoughts, words, and actions spring from His Spirit, not from anything else.

I’ve used the illustration of a cup. Upright it is filled, but if I sin, I ‘tip over’ and the Holy Spirit is no longer filling me because I’ve let in something else, either the ideas and love of the world, the desires of the flesh, or the lies of Satan.

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. (1 John 2:15–17)

The flesh is given many descriptions. Some are at the lower end of our human sin scale:

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19–21)

However others are not so blatant: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6) This verse describes anything I do apart from the will of God. My own way might be ambitions that serve my ego, and other self-centered and selfish motivations.

The lies of the enemy are designed to knock out faith with suggestions like: “God does not want the best for you. God’s love should be making you comfortable. God does not control everything” and a host of thoughts contrary to Scripture and truth about Him. 

Again, spiritual disciplines offer a variety of reminders, clues, rebukes, and helpful reasons to keep my source on Jesus instead of getting knocked over or off track by spiritual enemies, including my own pride and foolishness. It keeps this “glove” on the “hand” that moves it, not stuck in some useless place without any power.

The most common knockout punch is disobedience. This enemy is rooted in lack of faith in the Lord and putting faith is something other than Him. It keeps sinners from salvation and Christians from living fruitful lives that prove our faith, ensure answered prayer, fill us with joy, and enable us to love one another:

If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. (John 15:6–12)

PRAY: Jesus, I’m so thankful that You give me a love for Your Word and a desire to go to those “places of grace” that help me focus on You and on truth. They also rebuke my sinfulness and hold me accountable. The only ‘cure’ for disobedience is confession and Your forgiveness and cleansing — certainly not “trying harder” for I cannot save myself or fix my sin. You are truly my Savior, not even the disciplines and not my will. You love me and keep all Your promises to forgive, cleanse, and transform my life and will take me home to live with You forever.

Walk in the life God gives…

 Today’s reading begins with an exhortation to give up all efforts to grow and simply let yourself grow. Leave it all to Jesus whose care it is, and who alone is able to manage it. Put yourself into His hands and let Him have His own way with you.

While this is true — that Jesus does the work, resting in Him does not eliminate spiritual disciplines, at least those rightly motivated. This devotional writer is not telling me to give up reading Scripture, worship, fellowship with other Christians, prayer, and so on. This exhortation is about self-effort and that frantic or pride-filled idea that I ‘must’ do this or that so I will grow.

Spiritual disciplines do not make me grow. I’ve sometimes called them places of grace. They are like getting in the shower if I need to clean up, not standing outside of it trying to take the dirt with my own hands. They are not self-effort with psychological gimmicks to get rid of guilt or reading how-to books to be well-liked. Instead, these disciplines are being where I need to be so God can do His work of changing my life.

Some of these involve actual places, such as going to church and being with like-minded believers, but most of them involve action or lack of action, such as Bible study, prayer, confession, and silence, fasting, and sacrifice. These are not motivated by ‘doing my duty’ but by wanting to love God and be closer to Him. As I do that, I know Him more as He is — and myself more as I am. This leads to conviction and confession, but also forgiveness and cleansing.

Even the OT, with its focus on God’s laws, has God’s gracious promises to His people when we have stoped growing. He says:

I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them. I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily; he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon; his shoots shall spread out; his beauty shall be like the olive, and his fragrance like Lebanon. They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow; they shall flourish like the grain; they shall blossom like the vine; their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon. (Hosea 14:4–7)

Fear not, you beasts of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness are green; the tree bears its fruit; the fig tree and vine give their full yield. “Be glad, O children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given the early rain for your vindication; he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the latter rain, as before. “The threshing floors shall be full of grain; the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you. (Joel 2:22–25)

I cannot ‘earn’ these benefits but I can block them by running away from God and by refusing to unwrap the gifts that He gives me in my new life as His child. In that life is rest and growth without effort, yet crowned with glorious results.

PRAY: Choosing spiritual disciplines sounds like giving up ‘fun’ but that is not true. Jesus, being with You and motivated by the things You put in my heart to think, say, and do gives me an abundant life, a life of rest and trust, but also of surprise and adventure. I am humbled by things like pink tulips and well-timed phone calls, but those are only two examples of the many blessings You give. You are an incredible Shepherd and manager of my soul and the giver of peace and deep joy. You have changed my idea of what that word ‘discipline’ really means!

Matching what I do with who I am . . .

 

God has chosen me in Christ before the foundation of the world, that I should be holy and blameless before him . . . . (Ephesians 1:4)

 My dad often criticized those who procrastinated or made excuses for neglecting their responsibilities. He called them “can’t men” because they often said, “I can’t . . . .” when it was obvious that they could.

However, there is a “can’t” that is not an excuse but true. No human being can be holy and blameless before God. We all fall short, and we all need a Savior. My efforts to save myself are useless; this task belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. My part is admitting that I cannot do it.

Christ came into my life to be for me what I could not be myself. That is, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) He put me “in Christ” and sees me that way, not in my condition but in the holiness and blamelessness purity of His Son.

Yet everyone knows that Christians do not always look, talk, or act like Jesus. Sometimes it’s because I don’t know what Jesus would do, so I let me old way of life jump in and take over. Pride messes with purity. Strong I-wants can blind me to my own selfish behavior. Whatever the reason for my sin and disobedience, I have no excuse. The Bible tells me that I have all I need to live the way God wants me to live — I have Jesus.

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities, you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:3–11)

While I cannot rescue myself, I can practice spiritual disciplines that put me in places of grace. That is, God works in and through cooperation. A yielded life that focuses on Jesus has far more hope of being “holy and blameless” than when I simply do my own thing without talking to Him, reading and studying His Word, having fellowship with other Christians and other spiritual practices that build faith. Last night, a new believer, age 98, told me not to worry about what is going on in the world. “It will just mess you up.” I smiled and said, “Why worry when we can pray.” That is a small example of living as Jesus lived.

Spiritual disciplines are a choice and take diligence, yet they confirm my faith and by practicing them I will “never fall” — a most appealing promise!

I know the process of becoming like Jesus will not be complete until I see Him face to face, but His promises motivate me to “purify myself as He is pure” rather than coasting or fumbling through life.

How do Christians meet that challenge? By prayer, Bible study, and yielding our life to the Spirit’s control. I can commit myself to those priorities each day and seek to fulfill the great purpose to which I’ve been called—the doing of “good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).

Another spiritual discipline not often mentioned but vital to growing in godliness is this: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

Keep short accounts. Take note of selfishness and self-rule. Do a study on God’s descriptions of sin. He wants to remove it from my life and make me more like how He sees me — in Christ. These are life-changing practices that open my heart to let Jesus freely transform my life.

MORE: Philippians 1:9–11, Ephesians 1 & 2, 2 Peter 1, Psalm 119:97–105.

P.S. I wrote this early today. Later, the sermon at church was on the same topic and using most of the same verses. Amazing . . . and only God . . .