Last week we talked about surrender. But once we take this step, what’s next?

PATTERNS

“For it is not, truly, a matter of anything we do or don’t do. It is a matter of how we cannot but think and act, given the context of our mental and spiritual formation.” - Dallas Willard

What I understand Willard saying here is that our actions are the natural result of the current state of our spiritual formation. In other words, each of us almost automatically make choices that are in line with our patterns of life, or daily habits. Willard goes on to mention the management adage, “Your system is perfectly designed to yield the result you are getting.” Put another way, your life choices, even on a day to day basis, are an accurate picture of the state of your heart.

What do you spend the majority of your free time doing?
How do you treat others? Yourself?
What do you enjoy, and what is difficult for you?

Are the answers to these questions in line with the way of Jesus, or a different pattern of life?

If you’re like me, you probably are not feeling the best about the answers to the questions above. Look, we’re in this together. The spiritual life is often quite hard, even for the most committed among us. Many of us try to be intentional, but give it a couple weeks, and we’re burnt out.

Spiritual disciplines, such as prayer, meditating on Scripture, community, etc., can seem so daunting—partly because, at first, they don’t feel good. They feel intrusive, unnatural.

Think about it. Each of us have a story about who God is, who we are, and our purpose in life. Whether given to us by society or religion (or a strange combination of both), this story is relatively safe and stable—whether or not it’s accurate or helpful. Then Jesus comes in and challenges us to question our stories, in other words, to read the Scriptures for ourselves every day and let them inform our lives. This can be frustrating, not to mention disruptive to us, as it forces us to reconsider our realities.

Or what about the common American conception that we are what we earn, and that at the end of the day no one has our back. Many of us live in this story, so we work and work and work without stopping, afraid that if we don’t we won’t have our needs and wants provided for. Then God comes along and invites us to take a day off every week and enjoy time with Him (Sabbath). An entire day of potential productivity?! Yes. In the context of our culture, this makes no sense, yet it’s exactly what we’re told to do by God Himself.

These are just two of many examples, but to summarize, the spiritual disciplines can seem unnatural and imposing. They trespass on our conceptions, our patterns, our understandings. They’re disruptive to our way of life, and I think that’s exactly why it’s so hard for many of us to practice them—to take God’s advice on practical living.

FORM

2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:2

For those of us who have given our lives to Jesus (surrender, as we talked about last week), the spiritual disciplines are how God teaches us a new pattern of life—renewal of the mind. Because of the way our culture, families, and even sometimes churches have formed us to think and act, most of us have become numb to God. The spiritual disciplines are how God teaches us to even be aware of him. They are the methods that God uses to detox us, and invite us into real life—“eternal quality of life,” as Willard puts it.

Over the next few weeks we’re going to be diving deeper into what the spiritual disciplines look like practically, but today I just want to give you an overview of what Jesus is inviting us into.

Through training, Jesus is inviting us into new stories.

In place of the stories told to us by society, Jesus is challenging us to inform our lives through studying and meditating on His word. He wants us to let him teach us what life really should be like, rather than just embracing what we’ve learned through media, and overall culture.

To replace our mindsets of scarcity and hustle, Jesus is inviting us into the rest of Sabbath—a once a week holiday we share with God and those we love.

In place of being self-reliant—thinking that we provide for ourselves and are in charge—Jesus invites us into learning dependence on Him through fasting.

SUMMARY

Issue: We can make a decision for Jesus (surrender), but that doesn’t automatically change the patterns of this world we have adopted in our lives.

Solution: Spiritual disciplines are God’s tool of rescuing and reforming us.

HOW

We’re about to take a journey together into these practices, but before we do, take inventory of where you’re at:

What do you spend the majority of your free time doing?
How do you treat others? Yourself?
What do you enjoy, and what is difficult for you?

Whether you like your honest answers to these questions or not, remember, this is a process—for all of us. No one is exempt—we’ve all been formed in ways that are not life-giving, and are in fact opposed to Jesus’ way of life. But take heart. The truth is, even the fact that you’re reading this is evidence of the work of God in your life. The presence of a struggle is a sign that the Holy Spirit is in the process of teaching you a new way to be human.

Thanks for reading, and if you have any questions, reach out! (ianreyes567@gmail.com)
-Ian