Discipleship - The Continuous Spritiual Disciplines

A recent conversation with another member of this blog got me thinking again about the approach we take toward discipleship and holy living. In the conversation, I said something to the effect that "everything that takes place in life needs to point us back toward God." That can only happen - and it will necessarily happen - when we see all of life through the lenses of discipleship.

In the Bible, we are called to "pray unceasingly." In the book The Practice of the Presence of God, Brother Lawrence writes about living all of life as service unto God. How can this be? We often think that to practice the spiritual disciplines, we need to block time out of "regular" life and devote time and energy toward pursuing these disciplines. That is true of many disciplines, particularly devotion, study, meditation, prayer, silence, fasting...However, all of life can be turned into discipline too.

An 18 hour layover in an airport becomes a silent retreat. Work and study become exercises in faithfulness and joy. The annoying co-worker or classmate presents an opportunity to grow in love and patience. Friendships offer the chance to place others above self. And as we are conscious of using our routine, mundane experiences to grow in our relationship and obedience toward God, we become more aware of the faults we have and of the habitual sins we need to repent of. We also find that the boring things in life develop meaning and purpose. We find that God is interested in the details of our lives we so often dismiss as unimportant.

All of life is discipleship, every activity in life a spiritual discipline.

mostly about not worrying

I have seen how the Africans worship and I like the style.


At that time Jesus said, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants...

--Matthew 11:25-27

Today's Sacred Gateway reading and a conversation with a 2nd-year senior this morning seem to be saying the same thing to me: don't worry, just enjoy uni.

Beverly (an Economics student at my college) is one of the brightest students in her faculty and a banana like me (whee!). Although she says she ought not to be called a banana, as she's very Chinese (i.e. not white), only that she doesn't speak or write Chinese.

Anyway, she took on a whole spread of activities and projects in her first year and still made it to the Dean's List. Talking to her reminds me of myself back in my schooldays. I suppose I've been hanging out with the wrong seniors; most sound like doomsday preachers (OK, maybe that was a little exaggerated, but the idea remains).

And here God has hidden the things of the kingdom from the wise and intelligent and has revealed them to infants. So I am certain it is not fear that will carry me through this year, but the joy of the Lord.

Why should this year be any different from the last fourteen years of my life?


"Let my heart become one with yours."

Thus the daily prayers at Sacred Gateway begin.

"Teach me to have a childlike trust in you."

And thus they end.


Let my heart become one with yours.
Let my heart become one with yours.
Let my heart become one with yours.

(I can already hear an African rhythm for this line!)

Amen.

single-minded devotion

Today on Sacred Gateway, the reading is the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). What stood out today were the opening and closing lines of the parable.

The lawyer asked, "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

Jesus replied, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself."

And then there are the closing words of Jesus, "Go and do likewise."


I have begun reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship. I suppose in a way, it took me some three-and-a-half years to progress from being in the Bonhoeffer group at d'NA to actually picking up a book by the man himself.

Some of you may know that discipleship is a theme that tends to appear quite frequently on my blog. Well, at least more frequently than other themes.

And I find myself wondering, can we reach a point where Jesus is all that matters? UM was an unexpected turn of events. I'd always wanted to go as far as I could and explore something totally new. Yet here I find myself in the midst of the very familiar, and yet also, I believe this is where I am meant to be for now.


There's a song that speaks of rest, of devotion, of encouragement. Which is what I badly need now, having the flu and trying to cope with the early stages of uni life.

Times of refreshing
Here in Your presence
No greater blessing
Than being with You

My soul is restored
My mind is renewed
There's no greater joy Lord
Than being with You

Is there no greater joy than being with our Lord? Sometimes I think I am in UM in order to learn devotion. At times I believe it would be easier for me to seek God in a foreign land and build a new life there.

Maybe that's where the word 'refreshing' comes in. There is nothing particularly 'new' about UM and this environment; yet in the familiar I must seek what I had always been avoiding. Can I refresh my life here? Build a new character?


Eliot's words, "And what you know is what you do not know."

With all my heart, with all my soul, with all my strength, and with all my mind.


Random one coming up...


David at KLCC, prior to Yen's birthday lunch.

As you go...

From today's Sacred Gateway reading:

As you go, proclaim the good news. The kingdom of heaven has come near. Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment. Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for labourers deserve their food.

--Matthew 10:7-10

When I think of the first line, I imagine someone wearing a strong perfume which diffuses into the air as he/she walks by. As you go, let the good news emanate from who you are.

The kingdom of heaven has come near.

You know, I really don't know how to reflect on this, sitting in the Computer Lab at the Institute of Biological Sciences, UM.

Somehow in this shift to uni life, God has become both distant and near. I find myself cut off from the so-called Christian support I had back at home (books, family, friends etc.) but yet I find this place more conducive to a disciplined life.

It is also a simpler, less cluttered life. Alissa might say this is partly due to the fact that I don't have my SLR with me. Which might be true.

My other half is across the South China Sea, and that has also exerted its influence on my present life.

As you go...

I'm going. Going? Gone.


His kingdom is here.

Rethinking the Victorious Christian Life

The title sounds almost sacrilegious, doesn’t it? The Christian life is supposed to be a life of victory, isn’t it? Aren’t we supposed to have faith in the promises that have been given to us in the Bible? Aren’t we supposed to be overcomers? What is there for a good, faithful Christian to rethink?

Quite a bit, actually. As I see many of my peers becoming disillusioned with our faith – some leaving it, others simply losing interest in pursuing it whole-heartedly – I wonder if it is not in part because the church has promised victories that God did not quite guarantee.

One extreme is the health-and-wealth gospel, the idea that no good Christian should fall ill, that a lack of healing is an indication of a lack of faith, that all who tithe faithfully are guaranteed a return on their eternal investment while in this life (which doesn’t quite make sense, if you think about it – there’s a reason it’s eternal). For most of us who call ourselves Christians in this part of the world, I don’t think we preach such a gospel.

We may, however, make more subtle errors.

In YF’s and CF’s, the message of Christianity is very upbeat and positive. We are told that God has a plan for our lives. We are told of the joy and freedom we have in Christ. We are told of the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us to overcome sin. Someone give me a Hallelujah! Someone give me an Amen! Cause it is true! It is all true!

…only, it is not quite the whole story. In the Christian youth culture, the flip side is (unintentionally, I believe) rather understated. We forget to preach about how long it took for God’s plans to make sense for some people. (And, anyone ever wondered about those Israelites who died in Egypt before Moses led the Exodus?) We forget to talk about Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, or Job, who said “The LORD gives and the LORD takes away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.” We fail to understand that the Christian life does not promise a set of continuous victories over sin in our lives - not that God couldn’t accomplish that, but looking at most of us, the changing process is full of ups and downs and takes all our lives. We have faith for a few weeks or months, and then we start getting impatient and wonder when God is going to show up.

Even those of us who understand this cognitively, we struggle when we experience it.

And I think that this is one reason why many waver in their faith as they transit from youth into adulthood and realize that life is complicated. The (temporary though seemingly long) incoherence of the life we experience doesn’t match up with the coherence of life Christianity is supposed to promise.

You see, we are victorious. But we are not victorious in every way now. And we expect more than has been promised us on this side of life.

And, ironically, we also expect less.

I don’t think we can fully appreciate the amazingness of the victorious Christian life until we understand the ways in which we are not necessarily victorious.

We can be victorious in all circumstances, even if we are victorious over no circumstance. We can be joyful and thankful always. We can pray always. We can trust and have faith in God always. We can be obedient always. We can love always. And we can do this, by the power and grace of God, regardless of whether life makes coherent sense.

These qualities – they are easy (easier at least) to practice when we are victorious over our circumstances. When we are in control. When we can change the outcome of the things going on around us. It may seem really unfair that we are expected to do the same when life is a mess.

Or, we can marvel at the fact that God has given us the ability to do the same, even when life is a mess. Such is a greatness and sufficiency of our God! Such is the quality of the victory we are promised! (And, we may yet see victory over our circumstances, if it is God’s good will and timing)

A final thought: I read somewhere that wisdom is not understanding the full plan of God for our lives. We keep searching and trying to pry and understand, mostly in vain. Wisdom is knowing how to respond in whichever part of God’s plan for our lives we find ourselves in. (This may be something we are a little less enthusiastic in searching for) True victory can be found in following true wisdom.

A final caveat: I don’t mean to swing to the opposite extreme and suggest a small God, or that the Christian life is nothing more than slogging and suffering and merely surviving. Significant and visible victories are to be expected in our Christian walk. I do think we often forget that the true measure of victory is not to be found in what is visible, or even how we feel, but in the measure of our dogged faithfulness to the truth in God’s Word (the doubts that assail our minds and the fluctuations of our emotions not withstanding) and our obedience to it.