There is a destructive cycle of spirituality where we begin with “doing,” or self-effort. Then we link our sense of significance with our achievements. I wrote about this in a post called, “Cycle of Grace.” Here is one of the illustrations from that post:
We have a choice in our lives. We can begin with work and try to make it to acceptance. Or, accepting the invitation of Jesus, we can start from the other end of the cycle?
Because of God’s grace and the finished work of Jesus, we can begin each day with a clear sense of acceptance – that God is our father, we are his sons and daughters. We will then learn to come to him for sustenance. Then our sense of significance will follow, leading us to work as a natural outflow of a healthy spirituality.
It’s in the quadrant labeled “sustenance” that I want to offer a couple of thoughts. In a healthy Christian life, this is where spiritual disciplines come in. In the past, I used to see the traditional spiritual disciplines like prayer, meditation, fasting, worship, etc., as something I did, or worked at, in order to get the cycle rolling toward acceptance.
But, if we relocate these actions into the realm of relationship and spiritual sustenance, then we’re able to experience them differently. God has not given us the spiritual disciplines because these are just some more ways in which to please God. Instead, they are the means by which he comes to us and says, I want to affirm for you that I am your father, you are my child.
Take a minute and think about each of the spiritual disciplines in this way.
How does your perspective change if you see fasting not as a “work” but as a response to the invitation to block out distractions to your relationship with Jesus? What would it mean if meditation was not, as I used to think, the effort to please God; but rather the act of a child longing to hear the Father’s voice?
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