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The struggle for Spiritual Discipline

I've recently finished the book "The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry" by John Mark Comer. It is a great and thoughtful book filled with thorough research. I really related to a lot of his arguments and I highly recommend it. The book centers on the problem of hurry in our everyday lives. It talks about how hurry contributes to high levels of anxiety and the negative effects it has on our spiritual lives. The book is a big advocate for the need for discipline especially for Spiritual Disciplines- which is a great struggle for many.

Which got me thinking, what spiritual disciplines work the best in a world that is filled with hurry and distraction. Ultimately, I do think it is up to us to make the necessary changes that ensure our lives are not filled with busyness. But this will look really different for everybody depending on career, stage of life and other factors. So the suggestions I make in the blog today are just that... suggestions. You can do with it as you please, you can take some, throw away others or create your own. 

One time I asked my baker friend if I could have a recipe for the icing she made on her cupcakes and she told me she didn't really follow a recipe. Sure she had the common ingredients and she had some idea of what would work but she concluded that the icing was only perfect when it was sweet enough for her

Likewise I think we need to develop habits that work and taste "sweet" enough that we actually enjoy them. I think developing habits that we really don't like is counter intuitive- it just becomes draining and sucks out the joy. So we need to be sure that we aren't doing a habit because so and so does it. What works for them doesn't mean it will work for you, please consider your uniqueness, your tastes, your career and stage of life.

On that note here are some suggestions that has worked for me

1. Bring Jesus everywhere you go

Life is busy with normal life responsibilities like work, school, mowing the lawn, making dinner or cleaning the house. So I decided why not bring Jesus along.

Have to drive to work- why not put on worship music or a podcast on. If it takes 30 mins to get to work and then another 30 mins to get home. I count an hour here where you get to spend time with God in worship and if you're listening to a podcast you get to learn. There are great Christian podcasts out there that are engaging, thoughtful and entertaining.

Have to make dinner- put your head phones on and listen to worship music or a podcast. While I'm rolling up meatballs I'm learning about historical reasons for the Resurrection.

Have to clean/mow the lawn/water the grass- put your head phones on and listen to worship music, a sermon, or a podcast. So while I'm cleaning poo stains in the Kids bathroom I'm learning about the historical reliability of the Bible or listening to some debate between a Christian and a atheist. 

Hopefully, you see my point that you can bring Jesus anywhere- even when you iron your clothes and fold laundry or do the dishes.

2. Reading the Bible

One common question I get is where to start and I usually ask "well what do you like?" For me I love stories, it stirs my imagination and my heart so I start there. I start at the Gospels- the stories of Jesus. It got to the point that I really started to enjoy reading the stories of Jesus and what He did. And then later on I started to branch out and read harder books, more books that have a theological bent. But start slow, you're not going to become a super theologian right away. Start slow and start at your own pace. This is not a race- who exactly are you racing against? Maybe there is something to it when Paul says "walk with God"?

One suggestion I would make, is to watch a Bible Project video for the book that you do read. Maybe watch it first or after your read. The Bible Project does a great job showing themes and the context in such an engaging way. There is also great commentaries out there that provide great context.

If you missed reading your Bible yesterday or the day before that or the month before or maybe it's been years, there is no point of fretting over something that you can't change! Remember today is a new day, filled with opportunity so why not read today? We need to stop keeping score. So many people do this that either they can become so proud of the "streak" that they created or they feel awful about themselves because they forgot or didn't read. Both aren't good. Again....who exactly is keeping score? 

Next blog post I'll talk about prayer, the discipline of rest and other disciplines. Till then...bye!


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