(Returning to articles published from 2020-2022, this was written in late April of 2021.)
Last Saturday, my wife and I made a trip to Birmingham to see our children, who live in North Alabama. We enjoyed the time we had with them, visiting, laughing, and catching up on the latest events in their lives. Birmingham was crowded Saturday! Following a year of COVID concerns it seemed that people were out in full force, shopping, eating together, and generally finding rest and relaxation from months of stress and isolation. I told our congregation the traffic was almost like what occurs during the Christmas shopping season! Honestly, though, it was exhilarating to feel “normal,” although I realize there is still caution to be taken and care to observed. Personally, we felt like we were resting, recharging, and reconnecting with part of our lives, part of our identity, that we seemed to have at least partially lost over the last year. We needed this time.
This experience prompted me to reflect upon our spiritual lives, as Christians. Although we have not been on spiritual “COVID lockdown,” there are times we need to rest, recharge, and reconnect with our thoughts and with God. Many people have not been able to go to church or do the things they find “normal.” Others may have simply become distant from God due to their frustrations or other reasons. Some days are tougher than others, some weeks are busier than others, and some seasons are more difficult with others. Through each of these, it is necessary to simply pause and reconnect with God. This does not simply happen naturally. It takes effort on our part. It takes time. Even Jesus paused to spend time with the Father.
Is it possible that we have made ourselves so busy with our lives that we rarely exercise the disciplines of prayer, solitude, and contemplation? Is it possible that our constant diets of our preferred news sources and political angles are feeding our anxiety and disrupting peace within our individual hearts? Would it be different if each of us truly paused to worship God in spirit and in truth? I firmly believe so. I also believe things would be different if we truly examined our weaknesses and tendencies in our spiritual lives and worked to find a healthier approach.
Over the years, I have observed my own tendency to work, work, and work some more. Other friends of mine have other tendencies, but that is my weakness. There have been seasons where I was disciplined in work, finance, relationships with other people, and in my relationship with God, as well. There have also been those times when the demands of life overtook other areas of disciplines, leaving me busy, but dry. I may have been productive, but the effort was draining. During those times that I was relying upon my own power. Truthfully, though, I was running on empty. An empty tank is not good for anyone. Have you had those times? Can you relate to that?
As a younger man, I was introduced to the books of Dallas Willard, Richard Foster, John Ortberg, Donald Whitney, and others. These writers focused on disciplines that helped me form positive habits, some daily and others less often, but habits that are effective in achieving a healthy balance. These disciplines helped me grow closer to God and to mature, although I still experience the ebb and flow of drifting away from my Savior only to discover the need to discipline myself to nourish my relationship with God.
What are these disciplines? Some of the disciplines that help are prayer, solitude, study, confession to God, mutual confession to another Christian, worship, fellowship (with God and other believers), rest, celebration, service to others, generosity, personal sacrifice (or fasting from something upon which you depend or desire greatly to spend time concentrating on God) and leading someone in discipleship (helping them grow closer to God and to be more like Jesus.) This is not an exhaustive list, and different Christian traditions call them by different names, but the practice of spiritual disciplines has proven helpful to believers throughout the centuries.
You may notice some of these disciplines are active, requiring time and effort, and some simply require times passiveness and reflection. It takes balance to have a healthy spiritual life. If a person concentrates on constantly pouring out for others, when will he be filled? If he is constantly being filled, without pouring into others, is it surprising when he becomes stagnant? If he worships without learning truths his worship may become shallow and immature. If he studies constantly and takes no time to celebrate and worship, his idea of Christianity may be simply to learn about God and never express joyful thanks to God!
Do you seek joy in life? I encourage you to take an active part in your Christian walk. Consider taking some time to discipline your life toward God. This will help you rest, recharge, and reconnect with God every day. This brings joy, which is so important in our lives and in others’ observations of our lives. The Apostle Paul, wrote to the church at the city of Philippi:
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you” (Philippians 4:4-9 ESV).
I am so pleased that we are coming to a point where we feel free to get outside, return to life a bit and experience joy! I look forward to a summer filled with some “normalcy” as we move forward. I hope you experience joy daily, as you build your life around communicating with the only God, who loves you enough to give you eternal life and an abundant life while we are on this earth.
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