Living sacrifices

Spiritual Disciplines September is back for year 2!

Sep 05, 2024

If you’ve been around for a while, you may remember the spiritual disciplines series I published in September of last year.

We spent the first week talking about what spiritual disciplines are, what they’re not, and why they matter. Then we dedicated a week each to prayer, reading scripture, and worship in community, which I see as the three foundational spiritual disciplines for all believers.

Somehow it’s September again, and I want to spend this month doing the same thing, but with three new spiritual disciplines! This year, we’ll be taking a look at:

Generosity
Study
Reflection

I’m so excited to dig into these topics over the next several weeks. Before we do that, though, I wanted to share a bit more about why spiritual disciplines matter.

There’s no hack

Last year, in “The power of spiritual disciplines,” we talked about the differences between acts motivated by legalism and those that are natural outflows of fruits of the Spirit. Legalism is rooted in pride and a desire to earn God’s grace, while the fruits of the Spirit are results of God’s grace working in your heart to transform you from the inside out.

We’re all susceptible to pride, though, and sometimes the lines can blur between the two…but that’s no reason to stop trying altogether.

“Somewhere along the way, we’ve grown afraid of ‘doing things for the sake of doing them’ for fear that a dutiful attitude can be distorted into legalism. And, sure, it might be—but that’s no reason to give up on the things that will bring you closer to God and his people. That’s what his grace is designed for. ‘If you tarry till you’re better, you will never come at all.’”
From The power of spiritual disciplines, originally published Sept. 7, 2023

So, there’s no guarantee that your journey will be perfect; in fact, it’s likely to be very much the opposite. If you are like me (AKA a raging perfectionist), that may be a tough pill to swallow. But the good news is that you don’t have to hold yourself to an impossible standard. You’re not being evaluated on your performance; you’re receiving and stewarding the daily gift of grace.

The truth is that there simply is no hack that will make you into a perfect Christian. You cannot speedrun the process of sanctification. This is by design.

Spiritual disciplines as acts of worship

Instead of focusing on the negatives that may keep us from practicing spiritual disciplines, I want to turn to the positive reasons to pursue a life propelled by them.

Paul makes the case for us in the first two verses of Romans 12:

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 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 12:1-2

The imagery is striking. First, consider the concept of a living sacrifice. It’s a contradiction in terms; by definition, something cannot be a sacrifice unless it loses its life. The imagery is a bit graphic, in that way; a reminder of the strange paradox Christians find ourselves in as eternal souls being purified while living in a world scarred by the results of sin.

So, as animals were laid on the altar in the temple in service to God, we are to set aside our allegiances to anything that lays a competing claim on our hearts. “He who loses his life will find it.”

By doing this, Paul says, we will be really, truly serving God as he always intended for us to. That’s what he means by “your spiritual worship.” Worship is not just a portion of a Sunday service; it’s the culmination of all the activities you do during every moment of every day that highlight and celebrate the glory of God and his grace.

Fellowshipping with believers and singing songs of praise are acts of worship, but so are spending time in scripture, finding beauty in the created world, encouraging a friend, and acting in obedience when you’ve understood a clear directive from God in your life.

The next verse is important, too. “Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world,” Paul says, “but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.”

This is the impetus behind practicing spiritual disciplines. You will only escape the “pattern of this world” if you intentionally and repeatedly make a decision to live differently. Those single, repeated decisions then compound, multiplying each other until you actually have become a different person from the inside out.

And, yet again, you’re not alone. Jesus called the Holy Spirit “the Helper” for a reason—his guiding presence is accessible at all times, undergirding all the activities that result in your holiness.

The results Paul promises are pretty stellar, too: “that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Do you want to know God more?

Do you wonder what a lifetime of walking alongside Christ could look like?

Do you want to learn how to discern the still, small voice of God amidst all the other distractions shouting for your attention?

Do you dream of leaving a spiritual legacy that encourages your loved ones for generations to come?

Do you want to be transformed?

I can’t answer for you, but I can answer for me: Yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes!

By the grace of God, each of these things is within our reach. There’s not a test we have to pass or a standard we have to achieve. All that’s required is surrender.

I hope you’ll stick around for the next few weeks as we talk about how.