Spiritual Disciplines: Perseverence

We complete our reading of Spiritual Disciplines of the Christian Life this week by turning our time and attention to the topic of Perseverance. If you’d like to know more about what we’ve been doing, you can read about it here. 

Last week, we discussed Learning. In that post, we discovered that spiritual maturity doesn't increase by age and experience alone. It requires a teachable heart. 

Each week I have worked to draw your attention to a reminder like this. Going through the motions won’t help you grow in godliness. The Holy Spirit will. Engage in the Spiritual Disciplines because they get you more of Jesus. The Holy Spirit will use them to make you more like Christ. Keep this in mind as we move on from our study of the Spiritual Disciplines.

Summary

Our schedules overflow with activity. Most of us go, go, go seven days a week. There is little rest for the weary it seems. The Spiritual Disciplines aren't for a special class of Christians. We don't need more time or a better handle on things.

“The godly person,” Whitney said, “is a busy person. The godly person is devoted to God and to people, and that leads to a full life.” The people we admire are busy people as well. They have responsibilities, families, and jobs like us. In truth, they are busier than we would ever know. 

“Laziness,” Whitney said, “never leads to godliness.” He is onto something with that point. Seldom have I met a maturing believer in Christ, whose schedule wasn’t full. As we grow in godliness our level of activity and service increases. 

“God makes Christlike people,” Whitney said, “out of busy people, and He does so through the biblical Spiritual Disciplines.” The Disciplines aren’t for a special class of believers, but you and I amidst a crazy schedule. In fact, the Spiritual Disciplines refuel our hearts and give us the power we need to maintain our busy pace. “Instead of adding additional weight,” Whitney said, “the Spiritual Disciplines are actually one of the ways God lightens your load and gives you smoother sailing.” 

Our busyness can become an excuse to neglect the Disciplines, but we do so to our detriment. “Without practicing the Spiritual Disciplines,” Whitney said, “we will not be godly; but neither will we be godly without perseverance in practicing the Disciplines.” We can’t do them every once in awhile—when schedules and energy allow—and expect to become more Christlike. 

The Holy Spirit isn’t going to impose Christlikeness upon us in this life. We have to discipline ourselves towards that purpose. While salvation is a work of God from beginning to end, sanctification is a work of both God and man. We play a definite and vital role in our sanctification and will experience as much of it as our efforts permit.

Lest we fall into the trap of believing that we bring about the change we seek of our own efforts. “We must perpetually remind ourselves,” Whitney said, “that despite the most fervent diligence to our responsibility to discipline ourselves ‘for the purpose of godliness,’ we cannot make ourselves more like Jesus. The Holy Spirit does that, working through the Disciplines to bring us closer to Jesus and making us more like Him.” 

So while there is a role we play in our growth in godliness, the Holy Spirit does the heavy lifting. The Spiritual Disciplines help position us so that when the Holy Spirit sparks, a fire is lit. We don’t have control over when the Holy Spirit does His part, but that shouldn’t cause us to neglect ours. 

We aren’t able to grow in Christlikeness apart from the power of the Holy Spirit, and we won’t grow in isolation either. It is quite fashionable to rail against the church these days as if one can love God and not love His people. The church is a gift to the believer and we need each other far more than we realize. “Without true fellowship,” Whitney said, “even the Christian who is ardently practicing the personal Spiritual Disciplines will not develop in a biblically proportioned way.” 

John Bunyan’s Christian didn’t make the journey from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City alone. And we won’t either. “Associate with sanctified persons,” Thomas Watson said, “They may, by their counsel, prayers, and holy example, be a means to make you holy.” 

Christian fellowship is more than socializing with other believers in Christ. “Christian fellowship,” Whitney said, “involves talking about God, the things of God, and life from a uniquely Christian perspective.” The Lord uses socializing to connect us with both believers and unbelievers alike. There is a higher aim for Christian fellowship. It is to push and stretch us to be about the Lord’s work and ever growing in godliness.     

“Practicing the Spiritual Disciplines and progressing in godliness,” Whitney said, “will be accompanied by struggle.” The Christian life is not any easy one. Every believer must do battle with the world, the flesh and the Devil. Christ won the ultimate victory over these three foes at Calvary. We must persevere in the Disciplines to experience that victory day to day.

“So we need to remember,” J.I. Packer said, “that any idea of getting beyond conflict, outward or inward, in our pursuit of holiness in this world is an escapist dream that can only have disillusioning and demoralizing effects on us as waking experience daily disproves it. What we must realize, rather, is that any real holiness in us will be under hostile fire all the time, just as our Lord’s was.” 

Reflection

I’m amazed at the degrees to which we will go to find a loophole or shortcut. I find more and more that there are zero true shortcuts in life. Good old fashioned hard work is required to do anything of real and lasting value. There are those who will attempt to convince you otherwise, but they're wrong. The disciplined application of effort is the only path to that will get you where you want to go. 

Whitney has done us a great service by calling to the Christian mind the enduring need of discipline. No amount of will or self-control can get anyone to Heaven. Only Jesus life, death, burial, and resurrection can secure that for us. 

“One of the surest signs that someone does cling to Christ,” Whitney said, “is his or her ever-deepening desire to know Him better and to become as much like Him as possible. That is what godliness is, and genuine disciples of Jesus passionately pursue it. And just as the only way to God is through Christ, so the only way to godliness is through the Christ-centered practice of the Spiritual Disciplines.” 

I am thankful for Whitney’s reminder of discipline’s place in the Christian life. He has given us a clear a path to pursuing Christlikeness. There will never be a ‘right time’ for me to put in place what I’ve learned these many weeks. However I integrate these Disciplines into my everyday life, I will have to do so with life still up in the air.  

Next Week

Congratulations! You reached the end of our reading Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life together. Thank you for coming along for the ride. I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I have. If you didn't jump in with us this time, I'd encourage you to buy the book and walk through the series on your own.

Your Turn

This is the end of our reading Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life together. I’d love to hear what stood out to you this week and every week throughout our study. Share what caught your eye, or stirred your heart as you read.
 

Spiritual Disciplines: Learning

We continue our reading of Spiritual Disciplines of the Christian Life together this week by turning our time and attention to the topic of Learning. If you’d like to know more about what we’re doing, you can read about it here.

Last week, we discussed Journaling. In that post, we discovered that meditating on Scripture unlocks yet another door to experiencing more of God. As we dwell on His Word our affections are stirred towards worship.  

Simply walking through the motions won’t help you grow in godliness. Engaging in the Spiritual Disciplines because they get you more of Jesus helps you become more like Him. Keep this in mind each week as you study and learn. 

Summary  

Twelve chapters in, we turn our attention to gaze more closely upon a Discipline we’ve been engaging in throughout this series, learning. As we have read the first eleven chapters of Whitney’s book on the Spiritual Disciplines, we have discovered many things with the potential to transform our walks with Christ. In short, we’ve been learning about how to grow in godliness. 

“One of the characteristics of a wise man or woman,” Whitney said, “is a desire for learning.” They know they can’t learn too much, there is always more to be understood and a deeper ocean of truth in which to swim. You’ve at least shown a leaning in this direction by reading along with me these last many weeks. Way to go. 

“A wise person,” Whitney said, “not only ‘acquires’ knowledge, he or she ‘seeks’ it. Wise ones desire to learn and will discipline themselves to seek opportunities for learning.” There are a hundred different ways the Christian can discipline themselves to towards the end of learning. Whitney touched on at least six in this chapter: 

1. Listening to recorded books
2. Podcasts
3. Study Guides
4. Conversation
5. Classes and Groups  
6. Reading Good Books
 
“Christians,” Whitney said, “must realize that just as a fire cannot blaze without fuel, so burning hearts are not kindled by brainless heads.” What we do in the area of learning has big ramifications. If we neglect our on going education and cease to hunger to know God more, it won’t be long until our hearts grow cold. Knowledge fuels devotion. You can’t be devoted to a God and His purposes if you don’t know much about either. 

“God has made us,” R.C. Sproul said, “with a harmony of heart and head, of thought and action...The more we know Him the more we are able to love Him. The more we love Him the more we seek to know Him. To be central in our hearts He must be foremost in our minds. Religious thought is the prerequisite to religious affection and obedient action.” 

Our efforts in reading Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life have been that we might discover how each of the Disciplines help us grow in godliness. This knowledge is meant to drive us forward into action. Learning and action are supposed to be linked activities. Acquiring more knowledge of things we’re never going to do doesn’t make us more like Jesus, it makes us more like the Pharisees. 

“No one grows into Christlikeness without learning about it—what Christlikeness looks like, how they should cultivate it, why it’s necessary, where it leads, and more.” Learning may be where things begin, it just can’t be where they end.

Reflection

While some are have a hard time disciplining themselves for the purpose of Christlike learning, that’s not my problem. Mine tends to rest on the other side of that equation. I am obsessed with learning. I read as many books as I can get my hand on, listen to dozens of podcasts each week, and chew through blogs like a beaver does wood. I also surround myself with godly men and ask them questions on a regular basis. In short, I love to learn. 

Here is a smattering of books, blogs, podcasts and more that I’ve found helpful: 

Books: Greg Koukl, Tactics; Randy Alcorn, If God is Good; John Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress; Tim Keller, The Meaning of Marriage; Randy Alcorn, Heaven; Bruce Shelley, Church History in Plain Language; Randy Alcorn, hand in Hand; Arthur Bennett, Valley of Vision; The Story of Reality, Greg Koukl

Blogs: Tim Challies, Scott Kedersha, Eric Geiger

Podcasts: The Briefing; The Stand to Reason Weekly Podcast; The Cold-Case Christianity Podcast; Let My People Think; Just Thinking; Renewing Your Mind with R.C. Sproul

More: Stand to Reason, Ligonier Ministries, Desiring God, The Gospel Coalition, The Bible Project, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM) 

I mentioned that learning wasn’t my issue earlier, but I didn’t explicitly define where this chapter hit me. I’d like to do that now if I may. I have the tendency to store up knowledge like The Rich Young Ruler stored grain, meaning that I find comfort and joy in the pursuit of knowing and learning more, but as you remember from Christ’s parable things didn’t end well for him. Just as he was meant to leverage his wealth and material blessings for the purposes of God and the good of others, I am to do the same with what I learn. 

I do this well on the blog. I make it a regular habit to share the things impacting my heart, life and brain with you here, but I don’t always do so in real life conversations with real people. Too often I am content to listen and ask questions, without taking the next step to follow up by sharing something I’ve recently learned either from or about God’s Word. I’m seeking to grow and do better at speaking up in those moments, instead of allowing fear or propriety get in the way. 

One final thought on the topic of godly learning is this, our children are watching and will pick up the habits and attitudes we display. “The reason young people are not intentional learners,” Whitney said, “is because their parents aren’t.” This hit me with the force of an atomic bomb several months back, as Hannah and I brought our son home from the hospital. That little boy will be watching me as he grows up. The stakes for how I engage in the Spiritual Disciplines couldn’t therefore be any higher. 

I must tend to my daily habits, routines and attitudes about the things of God, if my prayer for Hudson is that The Lord would capture his heart at a young age. The example I set before Hudson will be the primary vehicle The Lord uses to teach my son about Himself during Hudson’s early years.  

Next Week

We will complete with the final chapter (chapter twelve) of the book next Sunday. We may be nearing the end of reading Spiritual Disciplines of the Christian Life together, but it’s not too late for you to jump in. 

Your Turn

I’d like to hear what stood out to you this week. Please feel free to post your reflections, and thoughts in the comment section below.
 

Spiritual Disciplines: Fasting

We continue our reading of Spiritual Disciplines of the Christian Life together this week by turning our time and attention to the topic of Fasting. If you’d like to know more about what we’re doing, you can read about it here. Last week, we discussed Stewardship. In that post, we discovered that meditating on Scripture is unlocks yet another door to experiencing more of God. As we dwell on His Word our affections are stirred towards worship.  

Each week I issue something similar to the following reminder: delight not ritual and routine lead to the growth we seek. Simply walking through the motions won’t help you grow in godliness. Engaging in the Spiritual Disciplines because they get you more of Jesus helps you become more like Him. Keep this in mind each week as you study and read. 

Summary  

You no doubt glanced at the table of contents as began making our way through this book to figure out when and where we would get to the topic of fasting. Don’t worry, I did the same. “Fasting,” Whitney said, “is the most feared and misunderstood of all the Spiritual Disciplines.” There are a million reasons why we’re scared of the topic and rarely engage in its practice. Some of it comes down to concerns about what others will think, but mostly we avoid it because it goes against what we want. “Few Disciplines,” Whitney said, “go so radically against the flesh and the mainstream of culture as this one.” 

We should take note as Christians, when something goes against the world’s wisdom and our fleshly desires. Special things happen when we discipline ourselves to say, “No” to the flesh and “Yes” to God. The more we build those muscles the better we’ll all be.  

“Christian fasting,” Whitney said, “is a believer's voluntary abstinence from food for spiritual purposes.” You’ve no doubt heard of fasting from social media, or a dozen other things for spiritual reasons. While those are good and right things, they aren’t what Scripture talks about when it mentions fasting. The Bible exclusively uses the term in relation to our abstaining from the consumption of food. 

“Believers, Whitney said, “should fast according to biblical teaching and with purposes that are God-centered.” Two things stand out from the biblical accounts of fasting. It is voluntary and for spiritual purposes. It’s not something you’re forced into doing because someone told you to, and it’s most certainly not a weight loss fad. Purpose and heart matter in fasting just as they do in every other Spiritual Discipline. 

Scripture speaks of varying types of fasts that we would do well to understand before moving into exactly why we should fast. 

  1. A normal fast involves abstaining from all food, but not from water. To abstain from food but to drink water or perhaps other liquids is the most common kind of Christian fast.
  2. A partial fast is a limitation of the diet, but not abstention from all food.
  3. An absolute fast is the avoidance of all food and liquid, even water.
  4. A supernatural fast requires God's supernatural intervention into the bodily processes and are not repeatable apart from the Lord's specific calling and miraculous provision.
  5. A private fast is fasting in a way not to be noticed by others.
  6. A congregational fast involves all or part of a church body.
  7. A national fast involves calling an entire nation to fast.
  8. Regular fasts are those partaken in on a schedule. (i.e. Lev 16:29-31)
  9. Occasional fasts occur on special occasions as the need arises.

The most common fast among Christians today would probably fall under the categories of normal, private, and occasional.

Most of us don’t struggle with questions of how to fast. We struggle with the why of it all. The simple answer is that it is expected of us by God. He clearly and explicitly asks for His children to fast. He even promises to bless and reward those who fast according to His Word. 

Earlier we mentioned that fasting was skipping the intake of food for spiritual purposes. “Without a purpose, fasting can be a miserable, self-centered experience about willpower and endurance.” We learned several weeks ago that purpose shapes our engagement in any of the Spiritual Disciplines. Without it, they quickly become a noose around our neck or worse still drudgery. Having biblical purposes in mind as we engage in the Disciplines may be the biggest takeaway of the entire book. And it’s no doubt the biggest of this chapter. “Having a biblical purpose for your fast,” Whitney said, “may be the single most important concept to take from this chapter.” 

So what are the purposes and reasons for fasting set forth in Scripture?

1. To Strengthen Prayer
2. To Seek God's Guidance
3. To Express Grief
4. To Seek Deliverance or Protection
5. To Express Repentance and the Return to God
6. To Humble Oneself Before God
7. To Express Concern for the Work of God
8. To Minister to the Needs of Others
9. To Overcome Temptation and Dedicate Yourself to God
10. To Express Love and Worship to God

“Of all the purposes for fasting found in Scripture, fasting in order to strengthen prayer,” Whitney said, “receives the most emphasis by far. In fact, in one way or another, all other biblical purposes of fasting relate to prayer. Fasting is one of the best friends we can introduce to our prayer lives.” Do you have an important matter about which you need to go before the Lord in prayer? Consider skipping breakfast or lunch and using that time to beseech the Lord. 

Be wary however, of believing that if we fast, God is obligated to give us anything. God cannot be manipulated. “Fasting should always have a purpose,” Whitney said, “but we must learn to elevate God's purposes over ours.” 

Reflection

I’ll confess that I’ve never once in my life fasted for spiritual reasons. I may have forgotten to eat a meal or two, but that’s not the same. Rather than serving as a rebuke for my failing to fast, this chapter wet my appetite for it. There is far too much of God that I am missing out on. 

I’ve heard that it’s impossible to reach the depths of God and when I read chapters like this it hits home a new. There are so many aspects of relationship and communion with Him that I have neglected and rather than being mad at me God is waiting with open arms for me to come enjoy more of Him. 

That’s what drives me to want to fast and I hope it encourages you to do the same. 

Next Week

We will continue with the next chapter (chapter ten) of the book next Sunday. We’re in the middle of a series on Spiritual Disciplines, and would love for you to get the book and join in. Click here to see what ground we’ve covered so far. 

Your Turn

I’d like to hear what stood out to you this week. Please feel free to post your reflections, and thoughts in the comment section below. 

Legalism and Discipline

Discipline can elicit a harsh and immediate rebuke in many Christian circles because it is often equated with legalism. 

Legalism for the unaware is church speak for man-centered righteousness most noticeable in the Pharisees in the New Testament. 

There’s was an external righteousness of earning God’s love and approval. 

God’s Word forcefully and rightly condemns this way of living. 

Pharisaical legalism and discipline aren’t the same. 

One is based on the idea that your actions earn you God’s favor. 

The other is based on the idea that consistency and diligence are the pathways to spiritual growth. 

One concentrates on attaining salvation by works. 

The other concentrates on being transformed into the image of Christ.

Christians often hear the first message when the other is preached and it leads to frustration and heartache. 

The life God calls the Christian to isn’t a life devoid of work. It simply redefines its why. 

You are called to work hard, just not for your salvation.