Vegetables

When it comes to spiritual disciplines, I am about as disciplined as a criminal. The other day, Heather lent me her copy of Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald Whitney. You can purchase a copy here and I would highly recommend it. I am only about a third of the way through, but chapter after chapter, I have been challenged and left without excuse. J.I. Packer, a renowned scholar and author of the forward, suggest reading the book three times. After I finish Heather's copy, I will probably purchase a copy. The ten disciplines he analyzes are bible intake, prayer, worship, evangelism, serving, stewardship, fasting, silence and solitude, journaling, and learning. As stated before, I haven't finished the book, but these disciplines are intriguing and necessary (although I am not sure how Whitney will argue journaling is biblical).

Whitney doesn't leave room for excuses. He answers many objections to exercising our disciplines. For a personal example, I do not spend much time praying. My pathetic excuse is "My life is a prayer." I try to argue that God's sovereignty allows him to know what is going on in my life; therefore, I do not need to relay the message to him because he already knows. In a false sense, I was trying to convince myself that I already was living in constant communication with God. Honestly though, I haven't been living in communication with God. Using a technological analogy, I have put God on hold. The seemingly emptiness of my words is a part of my fear when talking to God; however, Whitney illuminated a very interesting idea. In order to live a fruitful prayer life, we must meditate on God's Word before praying. He sites the examples of George Muller, a Christian who received radical answers for his prayers. The other excuse I, and many other Christians, site as reason for not being deeply rooted in our spiritual disciplines is time. We are without excuse. In all reality, we have allowed time to control our lives instead of God. Time and individualism are the two poisons of the last two hundred years. We have to be at work by 8, so we get up at 7. We come home at 4 and we are too tired to do anything else. Dinner needs to be made, the car needs fixing, we need a nap, the kids need to go somewhere. We have preoccupied ourselves with ourselves. By the end of the day we have left no room for God, His Words, or prayer. Instead of conforming and transforming our lives to God's creeds, we demand God to meet our schedule. We are frustrated when prayers aren't answered, we expect worship to be on our terms, and we seek counsel when our therapist is on vacation. One of the major problems in the modern church is the blaspheming of Christ's ministry. We demand the iJesus. If we can't meet Jesus through technology, then He isn't worth meeting. This is a frustration I have to deal with, too. Whitney sites many of the Puritan top dogs. There are many people who cringe at the word; however, these people did not allow their situation to control their spiritual life. They used their spiritual life to control their situation. I want to rely on less of myself and more on God. So, how do I take my own words and implicate them with reality. First, I need to spend a part of each day reading, meditating, and praying through Scripture. It's food for the soul and must be seen as food for the soul. Second, I need to spend less time trying to gratify myself. The internet needs to be less of me. My film watching needs to be regulated. I need to find more time for God and less time for myself. Find a copy of Whitney's book, give it a solid read, and let me know what you think.

Yesterday I had a pretty interesting thought. I could not stop thinking about what "bearing fruit" means. In one smaller aspect, I think it is spiritual growth. On a larger scale, I think it is working with Christ for Christ to do His will. Spiritual growth is inward, but the works should be external. I do not want to sound critical of the modern day church, but we are constantly ordered to purify the church and right its wrongs (but only through the grace of Christ). There are many churches that promote internal spiritual growth. It is as if we are being trained to say, "It's okay what you believe, I won't infringe," or "I have a personal relationship with Christ that I don't want to impose on anyone else." With this mindset, we are no longer bearing fruit, but we are bearing vegetables. Think of the analogy this way, most fruits grow on trees. The trees are easy to see (and smell) and a person can recognize their fruits immediately. The fruit is out in the open. A vegetable on the other hand, grows close to the ground or it grows underground. Cucumbers are hidden by their foliage, potatoes are hidden in the dirt, and some vegetables blend in with their surroundings. Working with this analogy and what Christ has commanded of us, are we vegetables or fruits? In many ways, I am a vegetable. I am scared of people knowing that I am a Christian, so I tried to hide behind the walls of society. Sometimes I do not want to infringe on the beliefs of others, so I hide myself in the dirt and wait for the harvest. Fruits are different. They're spirituality is external. I am not talking about "Christians" who run around slam the Gospel in people's faces or engage in a spirituality that sees who can shout the loudest. I am talking about true, genuine Christians. They are so in tuned with God's reality and Will that they just can't help but shine brighter than others. They have no qualms about preaching the news. They do hinder themselves from spreading the message of the Gospel. You acknowledge their love for God by their love for others. So, my big question is "Are you a vegetable or a fruit?" Maybe we should rename the Veggie Tales series? Haha, probably not.

Anyway, I encourage interaction. I encourage change. I encourage you to read Whitney's book. Above all, keep each other accountable.

With much love,
Christian Eriksson