Disciplines

A friend recently said she wanted to enjoy her freedom in Christ. To her, it was freedom to do the things which she enjoyed even if they were not necessarily beneficial, such as going out to clubs. I had to accept that.

And I told her I wanted to find my footing in church again and that the new youth leader had challenged me to find an area of service (I have recently stepped down from cell leadership) if I didn't feel comfortable leading a cell anymore. At the start of this year I wanted to be free to do things I wanted to do, like sports and work and read. In the end I found that I may have been happy, but I didn't have joy in what I did. In fact most times I wasn't happy either. Now I know what I really want to do is serve God. My friend said she would have to accept that, that I was becoming more churchified.

Ah, unfortunately the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Can I get back on track? Now that I have a steady internet connection, will I be able to blog as a discipline?

The greater question, perhaps: is having a strict timetable truly impossible in university and does being disciplined mean becoming more rigid? No, I don't think so. I hope that I never become that whitewashed. Let's try to recap the fundamentals of spiritual discipline.

First, spiritual disciplines are not for the sake of themselves but in order to grow closer to God and realise the full extent of our freedom. So being disciplined is like being a sportsperson who trains hard for the game, and orders his or her lifestyle around that sport (diet, exercise, regular sleep, etc) so that he can realise his full potential when he's out on the court.

Disciplines are also not to be used to make oneself seem spiritually superior to others. Judging others and ourselves based on spiritual disciplines is the surest way to becoming an unbending and unhappy church server.

Gee, how do I do this? I don't know. But I will try to blog on the practical aspects of my progress. Blogging about it is a discipline too. heheh.