Spirit of the Disciplines

During the first few days of my sabbatical, I went of out of town and spent some time alone. My primary goal was to refresh my spiritual life and to seek the Lord regarding any changes that I needed to make in order to pursue Him more closely.

While I was away, I read a book by Dallas Willard called The Spirit of the Disciplines. Originally, I expected the book to be a detailed discussion of the various disciplines for the spiritual life (e.g. prayer, study, fasting, worship, etc.). Instead, Willard provides a rationale for the rigorous practice of spiritual disciplines, along with an understanding of their place in the Christian life.

His fundamental premise is that we are bodily as well as spiritual creatures. To deny the bodily aspect of our nature is to lapse into a form of gnosticism, which drew a sharp divide between flesh and spirit, labeling the flesh as evil and the spirit as good. In gnosticism, then, the goal is to overcome the flesh, or even to escape it, in order that we might be holy in our inner beings.

In contrast, Willard explains that our bodies are fundamental vessels through which our spirits interact with the world and with God. Our bodies are created by God, and we cannot experience the world except through the senses of our body. The primary means through which our bodies enable our spirits to interact with God are the spiritual disciplines. As we practice the disciplines faithfully, we train our bodies and minds and spirits to respond to the Holy Spirit. Over time, our natural inclinations change and we transform into the character of Christ.

The disciplines, then, are not ends in themselves, but exercises to train us in the way of godliness. A golfer does not go to the driving range to be good at the driving range, but so that during the course of the game he can hit the ball consistently where he wants it to go.

If I spend concentrated time in silence and prayer on a daily basis, then I am more likely to respond with internal quietness and supplication in the press of my ordinary routine. When I am faced with temptation, pressure, busyness, and crowding, I am more likely to respond in a godly way if I have practiced godliness with diligence.

At any rate, this book challenged me to remember that we cannot grow in godliness with the effort of the disciplines. While justification is a free gift of God through Christ, there is an element of hard work and discipline necessary to become more like Jesus. It is the hard work of increasing dependence upon the Lord.

As Willard writes: "Who are the great ones in the Way, what are the significant movements in the history of the church, that do not bear the deep and pervasive imprint of the disciplines for the spiritual life? If there are none, what leads us to believe that we might be an exception to the rule and might know the power of the kingdom life without the appropriate discipline?"

Well said; now on to the work of discipleship.