A caveman in an old “B.C.” comic strip was explaining the game of golf to a cavewoman. “The fewer times you hit the ball, the better,” he said. She left him speechless with her next question: “Why hit the ball at all?”
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In his book, Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster suggests 12 disciplines: meditation, prayer, fasting, study, simplicity, solitude, submission, service, confession, worship, guidance, and celebration. We know that God wants us to do these things, because the Bible tells us so. But, besides obedience, why engage in spiritual disciplines at all?
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Last week a friend shared an insight from the Christian writer Dallas Willard about the value of the disciplines. As most believers have learned, we grow the most through our difficult experiences. Through our suffering we grow more spiritually than through any other experiences. In our difficulties, we do what we have to. We face the pain. We learn to trust. We learn that God really loves us. We stop relying on ourselves. We get our priorities in order.
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In many ways, engaging in spiritual disciplines helps us simulate the experience of suffering, says Willard. With the disciplines, we interrupt our selfish schedules to do something that will allow us to grow closer to Jesus. In a way, we produce our own suffering, because we believe that knowing Jesus is worth it.
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I’m finally making sense of this. When I interviewed Charlie Engle, after he ran across the Sahara Desert, he also spoke of the growth that any person gains through suffering. As he tackles seemingly impossible feats, he pushes himself beyond reasonable limits. He said that we all will suffer, and we all can grow through that suffering. He wants to grow, he said, but he wants to choose the suffering intentionally.
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I thought there had to be some way to apply that thinking to the spiritual life. We can choose to “suffer” by engaging in spiritual disciplines. We push ourselves to read the whole Bible in a year, to fast for a day or two, to memorize a chapter of scripture, to pray for a half hour, to spend a day alone with God. Through it all, we get to know him and love him more.
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We can also push ourselves to “suffer” by stepping out boldly in faith – changing careers, adopting a child, giving sacrificially, volunteering in the community, running for office, going back to school, selling an extra car, becoming a missionary.
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A life without difficulties would make us dull and spiritually weak. I’m not asking for trouble, but I do want to grow spiritually. Choosing to engage in the spiritual disciplines seems like a great way to embrace a life of love with Jesus.
