Coming back to school for the fourth quarter, my Bible class started reading a book by Richard Foster called “The Celebration of Discipline.”
As an assignment, we were told to write a reading response about the introduction to this book, and here’s what I came up with; take from it what you wish….
My life has revolved around the act of spiritual disciplines, but the summer before the sixth grade is really when I started my own journey in these disciplines. Within the first paragraph of his introduction, Foster states that this generation and world has a desperate need for deep thinking people. Surface-level ideas and thoughts won’t take you anywhere.
I think of it as a submarine, say you pay $1,000 for a submarine expedition and you get on the sub with all your friends and family and you are so excited to see the oceanic life under the water. And then the submarine takes you about three feet below the water for only five minutes, the only thing you see is a bunch of dark blue water with no fish and no coral. That’s it. Expedition over, the sub comes back up and your excursion is over.
That would be a huge waste of $1,000, right? That’s what living on the surface level of faith is like. I think many times there is a deep-rooted fear that the “spiritual disciplines” of life are intended for pastors of megachurches or life-long theologians, but that is so far from true. Foster says the opposite, “God intends the disciplines of the spiritual life to be for the ordinary human beings.”
I pray that my classmates and I want to venture into the depth of the ocean of God’s loving-kindness and joy; that “inwardly (they) long to launch into the deep.” I pray for my desire to grow more into the depth of the Trinity and that I can be a part of the vast Kingdom that God has made and is continuing to cultivate for Jesus’ return.
In his introduction, Foster highlights the importance of realizing that spiritual disciplines on their own will do nothing. Our own power to pray, go to church and read our bibles will do nothing if it comes from our own strength. We as Christ-followers are called to pursue Jesus at all costs. No matter what it takes, no matter the hardship that comes, I desire a life that is not my own. That’s all I want. To make Jesus’ name known through my life.
