(from de-veritate.blogspot.com)

 

Back when I spent a year at OBU I was in a small group Bible study, one of many that met every week. The groups were very small, usually only about four or five, and were formed during the week before the semester started. They were led by two students usually a year or two older than the others. These two leaders were to become a strong influence in my life over the next year; especially one -- Joshua Greever. He became a spiritual mentor to me and opened my eyes to many aspects of theology and life I had never thought about before. I owe much of my love and respect for the Church Fathers and giants of Christian faith to him. Anyway, we began studying through a book called Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald S. Whitney. Going through this book with my small group of only three other people was an amazing experience, and I grew spiritually in an exponential way through the study. I have been thinking a lot about this book over the past few weeks, and I decided to pick it up and go through it again. Each chapter in the book covers a different spiritual discipline, and my plan is to go through a chaper per week, practicing each discipline and building on the other disciplines as I go. And I'd like to share my experiences -- the struggles and the successes -- with you all. Perhaps it will inspire others to take the journey with me.

 

There is a basic attitude toward discipline in our world today, and that attitude is often wrong. This attitude says that discipline is drudgery. However, all that is needed to actually make this a true statement is a simple insertion of a few words. A correct statement would read: "Discipline without direction is drudgery." When discipline becomes dreadful it is often because of a lack of direction. What is the discipline really working toward? When practicing any discipline, we must always keep in mind the ulitimate goal of our discipline. It is the same with spiritual disciplines. Unfortunately the real, practical value is often not realized or it is unclear.

We must remember this: The final goal of all of the spiritual disciplines is conforming to Christlikeness (look at Rom. 8:28 and 1 John 3:2). This is the final goal, but there is work to be done until we reach this goal. We must actively continue to grow. We cannot simply sit around and wait for Christlikeness to come to us, we have to pursue it (look at Heb. 12:14). Discipline is the method that we must use to grow until we reach the final goal (look at 1 Tim. 4:7). Think of this: the spiritual disciplines change from drudgery to delight when we remember the goal. The importance of keeping this goal -- the goal of conforming to Christlikeness -- in mind is paramount . . . . . . .

(continued at de-veritate.blogspot.com)