Description
To perform appropriately in the moment when you're "on the spot" you must be preparing when you're "off the spot." We understand this principle when we think of great athletes or musicians, but rarely see it's application in our own efforts to be a "good Christian." The Spirit of the Disciplines presents a way of living that enables ordinary men and women to join with God and realize their highest aspirations of well-being and -doing. The key to this self-transformation resides in the practice of the spiritual disciplines. Readers will learn why the disciplines work and how their practice affirms human life to the fullest.
The Spirit of the Disciplines places solitude and silence, prayer, simple and sacrificial living, meditation upon God's word and ways, and service to others at the heart of the gospel. "We can increasingly resemble Christ in character and in power by following him in his overall style of life ... This was the method of his earliest disciples, and it is as valid today as it was then." After all, if Jesus regularly engaged in these activities, how is it that we simple humans expect to get by without them? To enter into the spirit and practice of the disciplines is to move toward the authentic life of faith in Christ and active participation in the Kingdom of God around us.
If it's your desire to become the kind of person who can live in the fulness of the life God has for you, the observation of the disciplines is your first step. It sounds challenging and, besides, where will you find the time? But take note of the word "easy" in the title of chapter one: It really will be easy — once you get the hang of it.
The Spirit of the Disciplines is a thoughtful guide to an enriched spiritual life, a book about how to live as Christ lived, directed to those who hope to be his disciples in deed as well as intention. It details why the disciplines are essential to our deliverance from the concrete power of sin, and outlines the ways that they can help each of us achieve the blessings of the companionship of Christ.