We were listening to
something as a staff earlier today that really had an impact on me. So much so
that I wanted to share it with you, believing full well it will have an impact
on some of you as well. Here it is:
Spiritual disciplines
are more rightly viewed as anything that stops the natural flow of sin in your
life.
When I have thought of
spiritual disciplines, I have always thought in terms of prayer, bible reading/memorizing,
worship, etc. Not only that, but I have
thought of them in terms of making me a better, stronger Christ-follower, not
in terms of stopping the flow on sin.
And so I have often struggled with what I understood were the excepted
norms of spiritual disciplines without the ability to understand part of why.
I have talked for years
about worship being a way of life, or a lifestyle. Worship is not something we do as much as a
they way we do it. When we worship
Christ as a way of living, everything we do is bent in this direction. I have often quoted 17th century
monk Brother Lawrence who was responsible for the wisdom of The
Practice of the Presence of God and I believe was a cook in a monastery
said something like “I slice carrots to the glory of God.”
That phrase has resonated
with me across the years but I have seldom heard someone echo it. This idea of stopping the flow of sin in our
lives, could just as certainly be stated as directly the flow of our lives to
praise. You see, that is what God has
called us to in Christ, living our lives “in a manner worthy of the gospel”. [Phil
1:27] In this way, anything that
stops the flow of sin, or starts the flow of praise, can be viewed as a
spiritual discipline, in my humble estimation.
Do you see where I am
going with this? Tonight, when I kick
the soccer ball around with 7-year old Josiah, that can be a spiritual
discipline as I demonstrate the love of the Father to my son, and stop of the
flow of potentially otherwise self-centeredness. Don’t mistake what I am saying, I could do
that, or ANY other thing for that matter, in a way that does not glorify God,
or stop the flow of sin, but I will make the conscious choice, I will
discipline my mind, to show Christ to my son in that moment.
What will you do today
to stop the flow of sin in your life?
Read the Bible, play soccer, or something else. May God bless your increased awareness of Him
as you do.
Jesus, help me and my friends know you better as we stop the
natural flow of sin in our lives and live in a manner worthy of the gospel.
Pastor Timothy
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