"I go through life as a transient on his way to eternity, made in the image of God but with that image debased, needing to be taught how to meditate, to worship, to think."
-Donald Coggan
Spiritual Disciplines: Meditation, Prayer, Fasting, Study, Simplicity, Solitude, Submission, Service, Confession, Worship, Guidance, and Celebration
I, for one, am a hardcore spiritual skeptic. I don't like institutional church, I don't care for contemporary worship, I don't get religious dogmas, "Christianese" evangelical word-vomit makes me gag, and so on. So, if it weren't for the fact that I'm receiving a grade for my participation with this book, I probably wouldn't be doing this. And by "doing this" I mean "formally practicing the spiritual disciplines." Don't get me wrong, that's not to say I'm unenthusiastic about it. I'm actually sincerely looking forward to it. But after 4 years of attending a small Free Methodist college, all the while intentionally avoiding becoming personally involved in anything structurally Christian, I'm swallowing a lump of pride for sure.
With that said, I was fairly won over after reading the first chapter, which was somewhat of an introduction of the book. This chapter answers the question as to why we should practice the spiritual disciplines. Foster begins by stating that "superficiality is the curse of our age," and explains how our culture is reliant on a "doctrine of instant satisfaction." Because of this, it is important to make sure we are involving ourselves in an effort to "dwell deep, that thou mayest feel and understand."
There are a few key points to remember about the spiritual disciplines. One is that these practices are not just for "spiritual giants." Foster states that "God intends the Disciplines... to be for ordinary human beings... [and] are best exercised in the midst of our relationships." In other words, the disciplines are not meant to be some 'other-life' away real life. The spiritual disciplines and their effects are meant to be integrated into our everyday comings and goings, no matter the time or place, no matter how spiritually "in-tuned" we feel. And one doesn't need to be well prepared or theologically saturated to reap the benefits of the disciplines. Foster says, "The primary requirements is a longing after God... Beginners are welcome."
Many people (including myself) tend to get caught up in outward religious motion as a means to a spiritual end, rarely reflecting to enhance the inward human spirit. So I appreciated what Foster cautions: "to know the mechanics does not mean that we are practicing the Disciplines... the inner attitude of the heart is far more crucial than the mechanics." To go a step further, just as alteration of actions is not enough, neither is believing we can make the spiritual shift on our own. Foster quotes "...we cannot free and purify our own heart by exerting our own 'will.'" (Arnold, H., Freedom from Sinful Thoughts.) He calls it "will worship;" the thinking that we can will ourselves to reform. "'Will worship' may produce an outward show of success for a time, but in the cracks and crevices of our lives our deep inner condition will eventually be revealed... The will has the same deficiency as the law - it can deal only with externals. It is incapable of bringing about the necessary transformation of the inner spirit."
But have heart! (Literally). "Inner righteousness is a gift from God to be graciously received. The needed change within us is God's work, not ours... We cannot attain or earn this righteousness of the kingdom of God; it is a grace that is given." (To be very honest ((because you wouldn't want me to lie to you, would you?)), this is the part that I tend to have a pretty hard time grasping. It's a fairly easy concept to understand, especially if you've heard it from the time you were a kid, but it's more difficult to know. Other than this, I have little to say about it right now, because I'm still letting it soak. Maybe another 24 years of life will do it?
To conclude this chapter, Foster warns against turning the disciplines into "soul-killing laws." He says, "Law-bound Disciplines breathe death." Ouch! Because I feel I can't truly present a qualified description, here it is in the words of Foster himself:
The extent to which we have gone beyond the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees is seen in how much our lives demonstrate the internal work of God upon our heart... When the Disciplines degenerate into law, they are used to manipulate and control people. We take explicit commands and use them to imprison others. Such a deterioration of the Spiritual Disciplines results in pride and fear. Pride takes over because we come to believe that we are the right kind of people. Fear takes over because we dread losing control...
...As we enter the inner world of the Spiritual Disciplines, there will always be the danger of turning them into laws. But we are not left to our own human devices. Jesus Christ has promised to be our ever-present Teacher and Guide. His voice is not hard to hear. His direction is not hard to understand... We can trust his teaching. If we are wandering off toward some wrong idea or unprofitable practice, he will guide us back. If we are listening to the Heavenly Monitor, we will receive the instruction we need.
Our world is hungry for genuinely changed people. Leo Tolstoy observes, 'Everybody thinks of changing humanity and nobody thinks of changing himself.' Let us be among those who believe that the inner transformation of our lives is a goal worthy of our best efforts.
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