How Spiritual Disciplines Can Become Spiritual Graces

by | Sep 4, 2018 | Bible study, Prayer, Spiritual Growth

How Spiritual Disciplines Can Become Spiritual Graces

Re-thinking spiritual disciplines

As many students and teachers get back to school, it’s a prime time to return to or develop good routines. This month at Living Story, I’ll share some encouragement and tools for spiritual disciplines, looking at the means God uses to grow us as Christians. Be sure to subscribe if you want to receive all of the posts in your inbox.

I confess, as a young Christian back in the 70’s, I got the wrong impression about what we often called our “spiritual life.” For example, I thought things like having good quiet times (whatever that meant) or memorizing Bible verses would make me a better Christian and more acceptable to God. Thank goodness for the great gospel news that God loves us because he loves us, not because we are “spiritual giants,” which I definitely was not.

The good news/bad news of spiritual disciplines

The good news is that I learned that my so-called spiritual labors did not save me. Thankfully, that work was done by Jesus on the Cross.

The bad news is that somehow I, along with many other people got the idea that being saved by grace alone meant we didn’t need to be diligent about reading our Bibles.

I used to think being saved by grace alone meant it didn’t matter if I didn’t read my Bible very often. #spiritualgrowth Share on X

Why we need spiritual disciplines:

At the office, the school, the playing field, and of course, on the internet, our culture bombards us with stories about who we are and what we should be. These stories tell us how to spend our money and our time. They often make us feel that we don’t measure up. Then, after we’re beaten down, they teach us how to regain our lost self-esteem.

In the midst of these mixed messages, we desperately need to know the one True Story Scripture tells. This Story reminds us:

  • A glorious God created us in his image, so we have incalculable value.
  • This same glorious God loves his people and pursued us to make us his own.
  • Christ came and died to set us free from our sins. (Gal. 5:1).
We desperately need to know the Story of Grace Scripture tells. #Biblestudy #grace Share on X

Knowing God’s story will help us when neighbors think we’re odd for going to church on Sunday mornings, or when co-workers think we prioritize our family over our work (we do!). We will remember that we do live differently because we are citizens of heaven, not citizens of this earth (Phil. 3:20).

Spiritual disciplines: our means of living God’s story of grace

Spiritual disciplines, like Bible reading and memorization, prayer, and attending church, among others, matter deeply to our calling to worship and enjoy God forever! Next week we will continue this series by looking at practical suggestions for developing and refining practices for immersing ourselves in The Story — the Bible!

A PRAYER ABOUT SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES

Holy God, forgive us for the ways we have misunderstood and abused your grace, mercy, and love. Help us to enjoy the good gifts you have given us to grow more and more like Jesus. We want to be like him; please help us to root ourselves in good soil. In Jesus’ precious name, Amen

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How to Meditate for Ordinary Christians

by | Feb 23, 2016 | Prayer, Scripture

How to Meditate for Ordinary Christians

Love & Meditation

It’s the LAST week of February. I don’t know about y’all, but this one’s flown for me. What that means is it’s time to wind down our “love” focus (who am I kidding — y’all know this whole blog is about Living the Story of God’s Love for Us;-)!

So what, you might ask, does Christian meditation have to do with love? Well, think about it this way — when you love someone, do you meditate on them? Do you think about them frequently, if not, in the case of early love and crush love — constantly? I think meditation is one of the ways we not only express our love for God but also grow our love for God.

Now here’s the problem — for me. Maybe for you? Somewhere along the way, Christian meditation became intimidating to me, something seemingly so high-minded only a monk with super-spiritual credentials could do. Somewhere along the way, Christian meditation became intimidating to me, something seemingly so high-minded only a monk with super-spiritual credentials could do. Share on X

As a young Christian, I learned verses like…

Ps. 1:2: “But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night…”

and

Ps. 104:34: “Let my meditation be pleasing to Him; As for me, I shall be glad in the LORD.”

I was taught that meditation was simply slowing down and thinking about God, particularly by dwelling on Scripture.

When I read Eugene Peterson’s Eat This Book, I loved his analogy of meditation as like a dog with a bone:

“He gnawed the bone, turned it over and around, licked it, worried it. Sometimes we could hear a low rumble or growl, what in a cat would be a purr. He was obviously enjoying himself and in no hurry. After a leisurely couple of hours he would bury it and return the next day to take it up again. An average bone lasted about a week.”

Learning to Love Meditation

The key to rediscovering and reclaiming meditation as a spiritual practice is to bring it back down to earth. Share on X It will also require that we do the seemingly impossible in our time — slow down and chew on a portion of Scripture.

 

“The key to rediscovering and reclaiming meditation as a spiritual practice is to bring it back down to earth.”

Here are 4 methods that have helped me learn to love meditation:

  1. Read a portion of Scripture aloud several times.
  2. Write the Scripture down in a prayer journal. (Or on prayer cards).
  3. Play with the verses in a way that forces me to slow down and think about them. I am a kinesthetic learner in part, so using my hands to interact with the Word helps me to do this (Drawing, cutting and pasting, lettering, etc.)
  4. Don’t overcomplicate it. The hardest part about meditation is the time and concentration it requires – much more than skimming a Facebook or Twitter feed but way less than watching a 30-minute sitcom on TV.

I AM NOT AN ARTIST:-)!
But that doesn’t mean I can’t “do art” and share it. In the same way, I am not a super-spiritual person, but that doesn’t mean I can’t do meditation. Below are 2 meditations I did with Bible journaling, my camera, and some digital software. The whole time I “played” with these, I thought about who God is and how much I love him.

Do you have some helpful methods that help you meditate on Scripture? I’d love to hear them.