Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Jesus - The Focus
Over at Scriptirum Daily, J.P. Moreland wrote recently about Jesus's employment of "spirtual disciplines." Moreland himself has written a book on the subject of spiritual disciplines, and of course, there is the classic on the subject by Richard Foster, and his colleague Dallas Willard has done much on the subject in recent years. And that just scratches the surface of the literature on the subject.
Before I get to my real point, I must comment that this observation by Moreland was new to me and utterly bumfuzzling:
But to my real point. Faith must be turned into practice - as James says:
That said, I have come to the point where I wince whenever I hear the term. Why? Because the idea of spiritual disciplines has moved from good idea to cliche'. That fact comes with consequences.
Spiritual disciplines have been morphed into so many things that we now claim spirutual "credit" for things like avoiding too much credit card debt. That is a very wise thing to do and wisdom is important in becoming who God would have us be, but don't you think we are stretching a point here just a bit?
But the worst thing about spiritual disciplines is that we become legalistic and idolatrous about them. We cannot measure our spiritual health by how many minutes we spend on the prayer treadmill, nor is accomplishment in that area the same as becoming more Christ-like. Need we forget the Pharisee and his public prayers?
The basic point is this - everything can be perverted. This is particularly true when something takes on "fad"-like proportions - we start to look at the thing instead of the use for which the thing was intended.
Keep your eyes upon Jesus. No matter what you are engaged in - keep your focus on Him. Only then can we mainain the proper perspective on our practice.
Before I get to my real point, I must comment that this observation by Moreland was new to me and utterly bumfuzzling:
Jesus’ use of spiritual disciplines is important to rebut a misinformed criticism of the practice of spiritual disciplines: The practice is Roman Catholic and should be avoided.Why would any thinking, reasonable Christian dismiss any doctrine or practice of faith simply because of its association with a particularly denomination? That is just beyond me. Even the devil speaks the truth if it suits his purpose, so would not a church that you disagree with contain some truth? That's not an argument, that's just bigotry.
But to my real point. Faith must be turned into practice - as James says:
Spiritual disciplines are one excellent way to accomplish that transition into practice.James 2:26 - For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
That said, I have come to the point where I wince whenever I hear the term. Why? Because the idea of spiritual disciplines has moved from good idea to cliche'. That fact comes with consequences.
Spiritual disciplines have been morphed into so many things that we now claim spirutual "credit" for things like avoiding too much credit card debt. That is a very wise thing to do and wisdom is important in becoming who God would have us be, but don't you think we are stretching a point here just a bit?
But the worst thing about spiritual disciplines is that we become legalistic and idolatrous about them. We cannot measure our spiritual health by how many minutes we spend on the prayer treadmill, nor is accomplishment in that area the same as becoming more Christ-like. Need we forget the Pharisee and his public prayers?
The basic point is this - everything can be perverted. This is particularly true when something takes on "fad"-like proportions - we start to look at the thing instead of the use for which the thing was intended.
Keep your eyes upon Jesus. No matter what you are engaged in - keep your focus on Him. Only then can we mainain the proper perspective on our practice.
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