Christianity: The Practice of Many Practices!

8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.  9 The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. – Philippians 4:8-9

Christianity has often been understood as the practice of many practices.  The statement is referring to the practice of spiritual disciplines that Christians of every nation have practiced since the founding of the early church.  With the goal of the Christian life to grow in Christlikeness so that we can be made holy (Hebrews 12:14), we must understand that this process of being conformed to His image (Romans 8:29) requires a dual effort comprised of dependence on God and discipline in our walk with God.  The word “effort” may set-off alarm bells, so please understand that grace is not opposed to effort, but is opposed to earning.  After all, we are called to workout our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12-13).

In Philippians 4 above, the Apostle Paul gives us a list of virtues and God honoring values, then he states, “practice these things…”  A close look at this list that Paul wrote out will reveal that these are all qualities of the Lord Jesus.  So, if we are going to know what is true, know what is honorable, practice what is right, embrace what is lovely, endorse what is of good repute, experience what is excellent, and know Who is worthy of praise, then we must know God.  If we are going to dwell on these things and practice these things, then we must know God, which means that we much practice spiritual disciplines.  Dallas Willard coined the phrase, the Law of Indirect Preparedness, which simply means that the practice of Spiritual Disciplines will prepare believers for the practice of the list in Philippians 4:8-9.  Many Christians already practice the primary disciplines of reading our bibles, praying, meditation on scripture, fasting, silence and solitude, etc.  A more comprehensive list of the disciplines and descriptions will be in a follow-on post, but for now just some thoughts on the value and benefit of practicing Spiritual Disciplines.  This list is not comprehensive, but is designed to provide some introductory info on why every Christian should invest time in practicing our faith:

Spiritual Discipline Benefits:

1. They transform our thinking.  To transform our thinking, we need to have an eternal perspective and set our minds on things above (Colossians 3:20).  Everything we do is either formative or counter-formative, so we need to be intentional in the transforming of our minds so that we are not conformed to this world (Romans 12:2), but conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29).  The way that we can be intentional is to 1) read the bible daily (Psalm 119:11), 2) we need to pray daily and often (1Thessalonians 5:17),  3) journal so that we can have a record and remember the goodness of God in our life (Psalm 63:5-7), 4) and be active in the community of faith for worship (Hebrews 10:25), accountability (James 5:16), and encouragement and edification (1Thessalonians 5:11).
2. They connect us with the historic universal church through time tested practices of cultivating spiritual growth.  This is a historic truth, but also a visceral truth within us as we are in the family of God that spans all of human history.  We are connected by scripture which they wrote down for us (Romans 15:4), we are connected by a shared faith and the hope of glory (Hebrews 11:39-40), and we lift our voices in word and praise as we join our voices with all the company of Heaven in worship (Revelation 7:9-12)
3. They direct our hearts and minds towards Christ, our magnetic North. In doing so, our lives honor God and reflect that we are in communion with God.  Our hearts and minds are always directed towards something, they never stop during life, so it is important that we be intentional to direct them towards Christ as much as possible.
4. They equip us in our battle against our sin nature, the world and the devil/demons.  Scripture often likens that Christian to a soldier, a fighter with a defined mission and a defined enemy.  In the case of every Christian, there are three enemies that seek to destroy us.  Spiritual disciplines help us combat our sin nature by directing our hearts to abide in Christ in a formative way to overcome the impulses of our sin nature.  Spiritual disciplines help us to become good thinkers to overcome the conventional wisdom of the world that is always anti-God, and spiritual disciplines strengthen us against the schemes of the devil by growing our faith to overcome fear, growing our discernment to overcome the lies of the devil, and to flee temptation as we seek to do all to the glory of God.
5. They help us own our story, our shame and guilt, by giving us perspective; by the power of the Holy Spirit, they encourage us to embrace God’s purpose for our lives. We begin to see and understand God’s sovereignty over our lives, and we begin to have peace about what is unfolding.
6. They move us to truly live in freedom and overcome sin; we abuse grace less in our daily life.  Spiritual disciplines help us overcome license to sin so that we do not abuse grace.  They also help us grow in mercy and compassion so that we do not become legalistic against people who sin different than we do.
7. They help us live daily by a mix of grace and self-discipline
8. The practice of our faith brings transformation which produces spiritual mindset, spiritual desires, attraction to godliness, a content heart, a distain for sin, and a growing sensitivity to the presence of God moment by moment.
9. They replace sinful habits with godly habits
10. They increase surrender, a daily willingness to consider the cost of discipleship and step into it.

To be continued…

Prayer: Eternal God, heavenly Father, you have graciously accepted us as living members of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ, and you have fed us with spiritual food in the Sacrament of His Body and Blood.  Send us now into the world in peace and grant us strength and courage to love and serve you with gladness and singleness of heart, through Christ our Lord. Amen!