What are spiritual disciplines?

The spiritual disciplines are the product of a synergy between divine and human initiative. They are tools to help us grow. They serve us as means of grace insofar as they bring our personalities under the lordship of Christ and the control of the Spirit.

By practicing the spiritual disciplines, we place our minds, temperaments, and bodies before God and seek the grace of his transformation. In this way, we learn to appropriate the power of kingdom living.

These disciplines are both active and passive, both initiatory and receptive; they connect us to the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, who manifests the life of Christ in us and through us. Thus we should work hard but receive everything we are and have by God’s grace. It takes the touch of God on our lives for us to form habits that are alive and pleasing to him.

The disciplines of the faith are never ends in themselves but means to the end of knowing, loving, and trusting God. As we implement them in a consistent way, we cultivate holy habits. As these habits grow, they guide our behavior and character in such a way that it becomes more natural for us to live out our new identities in Christ.

Our daily choices shape our habits, and our habits shape our character. Our character in turn guides the decisions we make in times of stress, temptation, and adversity. In this way, the godly actions of maturing believers are outward displays of increasing inner beauty.

If we fail to see these disciplines and habits as responses to divine grace, we will slip into the trap of thinking that they have value in themselves. Those who think this way suppose that when they meditate or fast, they are spiritually superior to those who do not. Their disciplines become external, self-energized, and law-driven. They are tempted to quantify spirituality by reducing it to a set of external practices rather than an internal, grace-drawn process of transformation.

Instead, we must see the disciplines as external practices that reflect and reinforce internal aspirations. Spiritual growth is inside out, not outside in; our focus should be more on the process of inner transformation than on outward routines. This understanding will free us from thinking that the disciplines we practice are magical in themselves or that others should be engaging in the same activities that we practice. Spiritual disciplines are good servants but poor masters; they are useful means but inadequate ends.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Ken Boa (PhD, New York University; DPhil, University of Oxford) is the president of Reflections Ministries and Trinity House Publishers. His recent publications include Conformed to His Image, Face to Face, Pursuing Wisdom, The Art of Living Well, Wisdom at Work, Living What You Believe, and Sacred Readings.

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