"...the Disciplines are best exercised in the midst of our husband or wife, out brothers and sisters, our friends and neighbours."I'm working my way through this study book with a group of bloggers from all around the world. In a sense they are my virtual brothers and sisters. But it is also important for me to allow my friends and family who can see me close up to criticise the way I implement these disciplines. I need to open it up to them and invite their comments and criticism - so feel free to do so!
It is important to note as I begin this study that the book is based closely on the disciplines that have been practiced by Christians throughout the centuries. Foster claims the "devotional masters have affirmed the necessity of the Disciplines" which are "central to experiential Christianity". So these are not going to be some strange new-age techniques to 'enhance' the mind, but rather affirmed practices that have stood the test of time.
The requirement for these disciplines is simply a longing after God. Their purpose is liberation. One caution which Foster gives, one which I can see myself a victim of, is not to make the doing of the discplines the main goal. The main goal is to meet with God, to delight in him, to develop my relationship. How many times have I fallen into the trap of trying to fix my life myself. I've learnt in my head that giving my problems to God works, but time and again I have failed in action, failed to let him help me. Foster quotes from Heini Arnold,
"As long as we think we can save ourselves by our own will power, we will only make the evil in us stronger than ever."I think what he means is that, as long as I am trying to save myself from my sins, then I will fail, because salvation from sin can only be bought through Jesus - surely if there was another way, God wouldn't have sent him to die for us. So simply put, if I try to attack these bad habits of mine, or try to make my life better soley through my own disciplining, then I will fail. I have to give the disciplines over to God and let him become the focus of doing them. The disciplines cannot institute righteousness but they can help sustain it. The work has to be grounded in God first.
What I'm looking for in these next few months is to be able to say, quoting Foster,
"Divine Love has slipped into our [my] inner spirit and taken over our [my] habit patterns."
and
"To refrain from being good and kind would be the hard work because goodness and kindness are part of our [my] nature."
This sounds idealistic, and indeed it is. But its a good ideal - one that I believe can only be brought about by a total change in my inner spirit - and that is why Jesus gives us the Holy Spirit. I'm looking forward to seeing more of his transforming power in my life.
Here is Liz's roundup of the group blog.
2 comments:
"The disciplines cannot institute righteousness but they can help sustain it." Thanks! That's a really good way of putting it.
Wow. Great job on your observations. I, too, read the chapter but see now how much I missed. To borrow from an agricultural analogy, we both completed the harvest but you went back to glean the remnant. Good job. I enjoyed your post.
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