Discipline
I am convinced that most of the sin in our lives comes from habit. Very seldom do I set out to sin. But I never do it blindly and I never do it by accident. There is always a point where I realize that I am sinning, or am about to sin. At that point, I have a decision to make.As I struggle to live a better, more pleasing life in the eyes of God, I have to face these habits and see them for what they are. I have to try to erase them from my life and, just as important, replace them with different, better habits.
For much of my life, I saw the spiritual disciplines as things I should do, or that I was supposed to do. But of course, it is to our benefit as well as to the benefit of the kingdom that we engage in these activities (or non-activities), so that we can replace old habits with new. With discipline comes transformation; not quickly, not easily, but vitally.
There are many disciplines and they tend to fall into two categories: those of abstinence and those of engagement (Dallas Willard's terms). All are important, but some moreso than others as they tend to lead us to desire even more transformation. Disciplines of abstinence would include, first and foremost, solitude and silence, and then fasting, sacrifice, frugality, chastity, and others. Disciplines of engagement lead off with study, prayer, and worship, and then lead towards service, fellowship, confession, and more.
(Richard Foster's "Celebration of Discipline" is required reading. If you get it and want more, it contains an excellent bibliography.)
The older I get, the more I want to practice these disciplines out of a desire for transformation than out of a sense of obedience. For the next few days, I hope to share some personal thoughts on individual disciplines and hear about their transformative power from others.
posted by Thurman8er @ 11:06 AM
2 Comments:
Looking forward to it.
I shall eagerly...and prayerfully... await your future blogs on this enlightening subject!
On a lighter note, my self-contemplation about all this, while and after reading your blog entry, actually caused me to forget the time, and I burned my favorite dessert that was in the oven...raspberry turnovers!
Your blog entry was powerful.
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