Spiritual disciplines: Do not try… train
This post is based on a keynote address given at the Diocese of Calgary Anglican Church Women Regional Retreat. The title of the Rev. Kyle’s address was “Life with God: An Introduction to the Spiritual Disciplines”.
The people of God have continuously sought ways of embodying their faith. From prayer to fasting, almsgiving to hymn-singing, habits of activity have governed the lives of the faithful. Christian faith necessitates Christian living. These habits of activity are what we often refer to as spiritual practices, or sometimes, spiritual disciplines. Importantly, spiritual disciplines do not derive from individual creativity. One does not just “dream up” a spiritual discipline. Rather, spiritual disciplines are how Christian people have continuously expressed their faith in Jesus. They are connected to the living history of Christ’s holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
Understanding the historicity of spiritual disciplines, however, does not answer the question, Why are the disciplines important for our lives—after all, isn’t believing in Jesus enough? Frankly… no. Don’t get me wrong, faith in Jesus as Lord and Saviour is a key component to our Christian life. But, biblically speaking, faithful belief must involve faithful living. We cannot believe something in our hearts while embodying an alternative reality in our lives. Jesus defines this as hypocrisy.
This is no different than other areas of our lives. Discipline is the willing acceptance of defined activity aimed at growth in a particular area. If one wants to be good at piano, one must cultivate the habit of piano playing. Anything less will simply fail to produce the piano-playing manner of life. Similarly, an athlete trains her muscles to be able to execute what is needed at the appropriate time, whether that be the clutch basket at the buzzer, or the 20-foot putt in the tournament. The point of discipline is to make the activity, whether it be musical, athletic, or creative, an engrained part of life. Discipline creates life.
Occasionally, people are concerned that spiritual disciplines are simply another form of works-righteousness, a vain attempt to earn our salvation. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Spiritual disciplines vehemently reject any notion that we earn grace. God’s love is freely bestowed upon us. Yet this does not mean we are to be passive in our receipt of that love, or in our response to it. Disciplines help us experience the gift of grace precisely because they call us to intentionally engage with it. We live in a world of competing voices, competing intentions and constant distractions. Thus, our Christian life takes dedication, devotion and discipline. In the same way that avoiding the discipline of piano playing will fail to produce the life of a piano player, failure to build spiritual practices into our lives keeps us from living out a healthy, robust and dynamic relationship with the Lord.
Consider two standard disciplines: prayer and Bible-reading. It would be safe to say that these two activities would be included in anyone’s recipe for a spiritually healthy Christian life. In fact, Jesus himself talked about, and modelled, the importance of these two practices. Yet who hasn’t struggled with their prayer life? Who hasn’t wished their prayers to be deeper or more enriching? Who hasn’t started to read the Bible only to find themselves stalled once they hit Deuteronomy? Too often, we attempt to tackle these experiences with the unhelpful words of “just try harder.”
Does your mind wander in prayer?
—Well, concentrate more!
Struggling with Bible reading?
—Well just grit your teeth, have a shot of espresso, and dive into 2nd Chronicles!
Such tactics, however, do not help. Amid all our attempts to try harder, we find that the efforts of our will only get us so far. Spiritual disciplines help us to grow in our faith because they are the way we open ourselves to the activity of God.
As Paul exhorts in 1 Timothy 4, disciplines are the way we “train [ourselves] to be godly.” In a similar way that training is necessary for piano players and or pro golfers, we need to create the necessary habits which will cultivate the Christian life we want to grow into. Spiritual disciplines are not how we try harder, they are how we train ourselves to live our lives in the manner that Jesus lived his. When it comes to growing our spiritual lives, we do not try… we train.
Let us return to the example of reading the Bible to see how this may work out. How might you train yourself in Bible-reading? There are myriad options available. You can try a Bible-reading plan designed to help you read through the Bible in one year. One might adopt the habit of Morning Prayer along with its schedule of scripture readings. Maybe you decide to pre-read Sunday’s lessons, and then reflect on how they speak to you. Disciplines really can be that simple.
Ultimately, spiritual disciplines help us answer the question “How do I live my life the way that Jesus lived his?” After all, Jesus lived his life in a particular way, and in doing so, modelled what the life of faith was to look like. His own relationship with God the Father was mediated through these habits of activity. Jesus prayed. Jesus served. Jesus stepped away from the busyness of the crowds to observe times of silence and solitude. Jesus went to the temple. Ultimately, the point is this: if we understand that Jesus was perfect in faithfulness to God, then would not his life be one we would want to emulate?
If we have a vision of what Christian life is about, and the intention to pursue that life, then we must cultivate the means of achieving that growth. Spiritual disciplines are the way this occurs. So do not just try to live the Christian life, train yourself in it.
