The Mystery of God - Spiritual Growth Part 1
I’m often asked how do you grow spiritually - this is my attempt to answer that
This past Sunday our church explored the typical ways God grows us. There is much mystery involved with this as it involves the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit works on its own timeline.
At the same time there are time proven ways that the Holy Spirit works in our lives to produce the fruit of God’s life. Primarily these three are spiritual habits (what you orient your life around), suffering, and community under Christ. Two of these you can control, one you cannot. Over the next couple of newsletters, I’ll explore suffering and community, but for now, let’s highlight spiritual habits.
Spiritual habits are the ways you orient your life around the life of God. These connect us to the living waters required to sustain the health of our soul. Certainly prayer, Bible reading and study (I distinguish between the two), and worship are major habits. I would also add to those service, solitude, and sabbath. Service is the way we love our neighbor without agenda. We serve because Christ served us. In our world of faux connection (the digital age which promises way more than it delivers), solitude to decompress from the world and to fill our hearts, minds, and souls are incredibly important. Along with solitude as an important twenty first century habit, I believe that Sabbath is a major habit to be in as well. Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath Jesus tells us. What does that mean? We are not meant to work or be bombarded with all the information coming at us. We were meant to take a day to delight in God, to celebrate the gifts God has given us, and to worship. Sabbaths are not burdensome, but rather grace gifts given from the Father to enjoy God, His creation, and the people who God has given you. For me, that looks like putting away my phone at 4:00 pm on Fridays to intentionally focus on my family, to not be distracted when I pray or worship alone, and to decompress my soul.
I call these habits rather than disciplines because of the negative association of the word discipline (though it does not have to be that – after all you cannot spell discipline without disciple). A habit is a way of orienting your mind, soul, and body around a life-sustaining or life draining practice. When you cultivate habits of the soul or spiritual habits, you cultivate a life with God. You strengthen your soul so that when suffering comes, and it will, your eyes are open to what God might be up to when you suffer.
So what habits do you have to cultivate in your life? What are some soul-sustaining habits you do to help you grow?