Spiritual Disciplines

The church of our day has become very focused on doing good works. The current generation seems to use works as their measuring rod for success within the church (especially those who claim to be "emergent"). There are congregations that cancel Sunday morning services to go do things in their communities, and others who give weekly pep talks on doing good things for people. Don't misunderstand me, THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH DOING GOOD THINGS! In fact, the Bible says that we should do good things. However, I'm beginning to get the feeling that we are pursuing good works to the extent that we have devalued spiritual disciplines.

You know what I mean. We will go out of our way to help people do whatever they need done (again, not necessarily bad), but when is the last time you fasted? When is the last time that you took an hour to worship God during the week? When is the last time that you spent an evening in prayer? It is pretty hard to argue that these disciplines are not necessary in our lives. The Bible teaches that there is importance in fasting. Paul said, "Pray without ceasing." Worship is what man was created for.

If the Bible is so clear on the importance of these things, why do our works often take priority? I say all this to make this suggestion. It is good for you to do things to help other people, but if you're doing so many things that you are neglecting spiritual disciplines maybe God does not intend for you to do ALL of those things. Maybe you should narrow it down to some of them. I know people will say, "people keep calling me," or "I can't turn people away." I understand how hard that can be to do, but maybe sometimes the phone needs to ring. Maybe there are times that it is more important for us to spend the time in fasting and prayer, or to spend time in worship than anything else. Maybe the church is not the holy bride that it was called to be because we do not spend the necessary time practicing spiritual discipline.

Just a thought.