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What Are Spiritual Disciplines?
Right off the bat, we need to acknowledge that Paul commands us to discipline ourselves “for the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come” (1 Timothy 4:7 – 8 NASB; cf. 2 Peter 1:5 – 10).
They are essential for our growth and not optional when it comes to the Christian life.
A discipline is “any activity I can do by direct effort that will help me do what I cannot now do by direct effort.”
For example, we practice scales on a piano to learn to play music — not to get really good at playing scales.
I don’t practice grammar to get really good at grammar. I study vocabulary and grammar so that I can learn to speak a new language and experience the whole new world that language opens up.
The eternal kind of life is like learning a new language.
The best definition of the spiritual disciplines I’ve come across is one from Dallas Willard:
“The indirect means that allow us to cooperate in reshaping the personality — the feelings, ideas, mental processes and images, and the deep readinesses of soul and body—so that our whole being is poised to go with the movements of the regenerate heart that is in us by the impact of the gospel Word under the direction and energizing of the Holy Spirit.”
The Spiritual disciplines empowered by the Holy Spirit and fueled by God’s grace help us set the table for important work God wants to do in our lives to make us more like Christ.
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