Hello,
everyone! As you can see by the title,
this semester is coming to a close. I
can’t believe how fast it has gone. It
seems like just a couple of days ago when I was learning about the discipline
of worship and thinking about how to participate fully! This final blog post will be reflection about
six different questions that will be included in the blog. Thank you to those that have continued to
read this throughout the entire semester (Thanks, Mom! - haha). I hope that you benefited in some way and are
challenged and encouraged to keep pressing forward in pursuing Christian
spirituality.
1. Foster says spiritual disciplines are not
designed to be ends in themselves, but are intended to facilitate a person’s
journey into greater freedom in living a Christ-like life. How did your practice of the disciplines this
semester (either some in particular or all together) help you grow in your
faith in and obedience to God?
This class on spiritual formation came
at the exact right time. About half-way
through this semester, I hit a metaphorical wall, both mentally and
spiritually. This happened about the
time that I was practicing the discipline of confession. During this week stretch, it was all I could
do to hold myself together without having an emotional breakdown. I felt like God was far from me; looking back
at it now, I feel like it was one of those instances that Foster calls “the
dark night of the soul.” It felt like I
was trapped in a place where doubts and fears about Christianity and the future
constantly tugged at my attention, making me highly emotional and even slightly
bitter against God. During that time, as
I mentioned before, we were beginning to practice the discipline of
confession. It was then that I slowly
realized that I had not been confessing the things that I was worried about to
anyone but myself. I had even been
keeping these fears and bitter feelings from God, determined to deal with them
on my own. Isn’t it so funny how God can
just use these instances to completely break you down and then build you back
up again? After actually confessing
these worries and fears to God, I slowly began to feel like myself again, still
broken, but functioning in a way that made me put my trust in Him.
Generally, the practice of the
disciplines this semester have really helped me grow in my faith and obedience
to God. As I go through my day,
different instances help me remember something that I learned from practicing
these disciplines, making me reflect and also continue to ponder new and
different ways to continue to practice these disciplines. Reading back through all of the posts prior
to this one, made me see a pattern throughout each discipline that I was
practicing. After setting goals for
myself, they would usually get thrown out the window and God would show me
something that week that I didn’t really expect to experience. God is full of surprises, giving me substance
for each day which makes me dependent upon Him, even when I so want to rely on
just myself. These disciplines have
taught me to look at myself critically when obeying God, causing me to examine
my motives.
All in all, these disciplines have
put me into better communion with the Creator of the heavens and the
earth. I am more aware of Him and the
world around me, willing to stop and look around before diving into the next
task at hand.
2. What were some of the distractions or
hindrances that kept you from practicing, or practicing to the fullest, the
assigned disciplines this semester? What
does this show you about yourself? How
do you plan to address this area (or these areas) of struggle?
As alluded to in the above question,
I am somewhat of a control freak (that is why submission, even to God, is
something that is a little bit difficult for me). In all of the disciplines, I ran into many
distractions that all had equal priority.
While practicing these disciplines, it seems like the workload for this
semester tripled. Every time a new
discipline was assigned, there was always so much work for school that I could
do. This gave me an excuse to put the
practice of the discipline off until later in the week. True, I did think about the discipline a lot
and even wanted to engage in the practices of the disciplines, but I also felt
the tug of assignments and life in general, forcing me to choose one over the
other. I’m ashamed to admit that,
usually, small assignments took precedence over practicing the spiritual
discipline.
When looking at the preceding
paragraph, it makes me so thankful for the grace of God. What a stubborn and, frankly, annoying human
being I must be to Him. In neglecting
spending time to work on the formation of my spirituality, I chose meaningless
acts that I don’t even remember right now.
Instead, I do remember with fondness actually thinking and practicing
all of the disciplines this semester.
This shows me that my intentions are always good. However, things usually fall by the wayside
in my frantic struggle to get everything done well and on time. What can I do about this? Why do I convince myself that the small
intricacies of my life are somehow more important than God?
As I think about a possible plan of
action to address this area of personal struggle in my life, I realize that a
huge leap has already been made. I think
that half of the battle when you are struggling with something is to admit it
to yourself and then admitting it to God.
A large part of this has been completed slowly throughout the
semester. However, there is still far to
go from here. As of right now, I don’t
have a definitive plan. I think it will
involve me trying to loosen up a little bit and not be so serious about
everything. It will involve continuing
to study God’s Word and being willing to let Him take over my life instead of
fighting Him for control.
3. Identify three disciplines you think mesh
together well and explain how you see them interrelating. How would you plan to practice them together?
Three disciplines that mesh really
well together in my mind are simplicity, solitude, and submission. Apart from their alliteration, which makes
them a perfect match as well, they all begin by being an inward reality. Simplicity is the act of reorienting our
lives around God and being content. This
contentment will spring forth into an outward lifestyle, filled with the
contentment and joy of the present without longing for more or the next
desire. Solitude has the purpose of
setting aside time, not to just be alone, but to be alone with God in order to
listen to Him and meditate on His word. Submission
is the act of complying to God’s will.
After doing that, submission will be prevalent in our outward lives as
well.
These three disciplines are
interrelated because, when practicing the disciplines of solitude and
simplicity, submission will be evident in one’s life. I would practice these three disciplines
together by taking time to submit to God throughout my day. This could include the rhythm of work and
prayer. By submitting myself to God and
not to the trials of the day, I will be able to live in an inward simplicity,
not being crippled by anxiety or pressures.
By being connected to God throughout the day after submitting and being
in solitude, this will carry over into my actions with others, giving me a
worldview that is broader.
4. Identify one discipline you would urge a new
believer to practice. How would you
instruct them in the discipline? Why do
you think that discipline is especially well-suited to the formation of a new
believer?
If I had to choose one discipline
that I would strongly urge a new believer to practice, I would ask this new
believer to consider the power of the spiritual discipline of prayer. Prayer is the gateway to all of the other
spiritual disciplines that we have encountered this semester. If any believer wants to live a Christian
life, prayer is a necessity. The discipline
of prayer is also good for a new believer because it is a discipline that can
be learned and practiced. It allows us
to come at whatever “level of spirituality” that we are at, and gives us a
sense of confidence, hope, and assurance that God is listening and present in
our lives.
In order to instruct this new
believer in prayer, I would begin by saying that God uses prayer to transform
us. I would go on to say that it is not
something that is scary; instead, it invites us into a conversation with
God. To practice the spiritual
discipline of prayer, I would invite this new believer to write down their
prayers in a prayer journal or something like that. I would also say that reading through the
Bible, especially the Psalms, are a wonderful way to pray the words of the
saints who have gone before. Lastly, I
would remind them that prayer is a conversation between ourselves and God.
5. Spiritual disciplines fortify believers
against some of the universal struggles and weaknesses all Christians have battled
against. Identify and describe an area
of weakness you observe in the Kuyper College student population. What spiritual discipline, if corporately
practiced, would target this area of weakness and why?
One of Kuyper Collage’s strengths
that is broadcasted by almost every student, staff member, and faculty member
is the idea of community. We are a very
close-knit group that is charitable towards people who are deemed as “different”
(ourselves included). However, on this
campus I see the danger of this community.
Sometimes it feels like this community is centered more around academics
– which, don’t get me wrong, is important – rather than God. Also, we get so involved in each other’s
lives that we don’t take time to be in community with God. The spiritual discipline that should be
corporately practiced that would target this area of weakness would be
solitude. It would be so nice to have a
time where all of us go off by ourselves to connect with God. In this way, our community won’t be filled
with pointless squabbles or fruitless conversations but filled with the salt of
the earth. By getting away to commune
with God and keeping this spirit of solitude inside, we will better be able to
build each other up and act as God has commanded His people to act.
6. What advice would you give to the next class
of spiritual formation students at Kuyper Collage who will be practicing these
disciplines?
For those of you who are going to be
taking this class next semester, look out!
God is going to change you as you practice these disciplines and
meditate on His Word. It is important to
know that God will work through you, breaking down your defenses and slowly
building you back up into the man or woman of God that He wants you to be. As for advice, I would say to try not to get
caught up in the actual discipline itself, but be transformed by the results
that the discipline offers. Every
discipline has its specific purpose and freedom. Try to find this freedom. With that freedom, there will be joy. Also, be as honest as possible in the blogs
(if you have to blog about your experience).
While reflecting and writing my blogs, I was surprised at just how much
I learned over the past week, even if it didn’t seem like God was teaching me
anything while actually practicing the discipline.
All in
all, God has been good this semester. I
pray to continue to live a life full of spiritual discipline and knowledge of
God. It is only then that I will truly
be free to follow God. Freedom begets
freedom. Thank you, friends, for the
wonderful journey. It has been spiffy.
