My oldest son called the other day to share with me how he had made a mistake in his plans and ended up missing his flight back from San Antonio and getting stuck at DFW Airport overnight. He was not alone, as many thousands of people had either missed their flights or had been bumped from flights due to the sudden blizzard and ice storm that hit DFW in late March.

His mother and I talked on the phone before he called us to get his side of the story. We were relieved to find that he had gotten into an Air Force apartment that had a couch. I was not completely relieved, however. I was very disappointed to know that he had suffered a disappointment and had been inconvenienced greatly by the flight delay.

As it turned out he had missed the flight due to some distraction at the end of the day, but ended up thankful that he had been delayed and had gotten to talk to his dad. This conversation with my son reminded me of how much we take for granted in our lives, especially in regards to the care of ourselves.

The Religious Recipe

Most people have some idea of what they think makes life fulfilling. Many will say that having a good career or getting a college degree will do the trick. Others will say that money does it, especially when you are getting enough to be comfortable, without working too much.

Still others say that relationships are the key – relationships with friends, relationships with coworkers, or romantic relationships.

Christians may have a few more categories to consider. In addition to relationships they may value their church, their community, and their witnessing opportunities.

Still other Christians put their hope in eschatological fulfillment. Many Pentecostals will say that the second coming of Jesus and the Rapture will be the peak of their existence.

With all of these options to choose from, how can one determine that which is best for them, or for people in general?

I believe the answer can be found in the spiritual disciplines. But even the spiritual disciplines can be understood in different ways, with different results.

Spiritual Disciplines?

The spiritual disciplines are defined differently by different people. I think the most significant factor in determining how we should live life is how we define spiritual discipline. The Apostle Paul has described to his reader the seven virtues as “fruit” and the seven sins as “works” (Galatians 5:19-23). These lists give us a glimpse of how our lives are to be lived out, for us to be bearers of the fruit of the Spirit rather than workers of the deeds of the flesh.

The point is not in what we do to become spiritual, but in how we are being transformed by God’s Spirit to be holy. We are to be spiritual, not religious. If we are religious then we are concerned about being seen by people as religious, while God is concerned with being seen by us as holy. When we are religious, our concern is getting things done for people to see. Our focus in that case is ourselves and our own works. But when we are spiritual, our concern is getting things done for God to see, so he is exalted.

Spiritual disciplines should not be practiced to become spiritual, but to be spiritual. We should not practice spiritual disciplines to become spiritual, but to reveal God’s Spirit to others. But even then, spiritual disciplines should not be practiced in order to have others know about God’s Spirit, but in order to allow others to experience God’s Spirit. So we can boil this down to three main points:

    1. We should practice spiritual disciplines to be spiritual, not to become spiritual. To be spiritual is to be holy in God. To be spiritual is to have God’s Spirit in us.
    1. We should practice spiritual disciplines in order to reveal God’s Spirit to people, not just to tell people about God’s Spirit.
    1. We should practice spiritual disciplines in order to experience God’s Spirit in people, not to just allow people to experience God’s Spirit.

This is all a bit more complex than can be stated in one sentence, but it is important for us to understand why we do what we do. We are doing these things in order to glorify God in the lives of others, not ourselves. We are seeking the benefit of the people around us, and we seek to build them up rather than glorify ourselves.

Selfish Habits

The point of having spiritual disciplines is not to have them at all, but to have healthy habits so that we can be healthy. Many people have a problem with “self-care.” Too often people think that self-care is selfish, and therefore it is bad.

There is much to be said about how the Evangelical Christian emphasis on being sacrificial has encouraged people to neglect themselves and not take care of themselves in various ways. In fact, many of us have a tendency to look down on people who are trying to improve themselves, or who are spending money on things that will benefit themselves.

We often ignore the reality that we have to take care of ourselves so that we can take care of others. We don’t think much of people who get a good education, or who exercise regularly, or who are taking their medications regularly.

As it turns out, many of these “unholy” habits or rituals are really very important. I am not saying that we should pursue them as works or as religion, but we should be careful in how we view those who are seeking to take care of themselves and not doing it to seek the benefits for themselves, but to serve others. We should not assume that just because someone is taking care of themselves, they are being selfish.

Holy Endeavor

Lately there has been a lot of talk about depression, and various methods of dealing with depression. The great medical debate seems to be between medications and behavioral therapy, even though each will say the best for you is both. What often gets lost in the shuffle is what we should expect people to do to be the best that they can be in life.

The medical industry has an interesting paradigm that we sometimes accept, that healthy living starts at birth and then continues until death, buyt that it is a purely medical concern. This paradigm has placed the doctor on a pedestal, and in my opinion it has greatly reduced the health, happiness, and fulfillment of people. I am not saying that doctors are bad, but their main concern is with health, which is a very narrow view.

The truth is that the most important thing in our lives is our relationship with God and how we are in relationship with other people. It is this aspect of life that will be the most important factor in how healthy we are in life. Even the medical industry acknowledges that healthy living starts with social interaction, not social isolation. But they do not offer a deep philosophy of living. They only suggest that you should associate with people who are healthy.

The spiritual disciplines offer a simple philosophy. We should learn to accept God’s Spirit in us and let it live in us, and we should learn how to use that Spirit in others to bring them together in unity. We should seek to use our spiritual disciplines as a means to build up the body of Christ, not as a means to get more people into our church or our religious club, but as a way to build up the body of Christ.

We should learn to work together with the Spirit to build up the body of Christ. There are many aspects of this that could be addressed in this article, but for now I will suggest that we should see this as our holiest endeavor in life. It is this that we should do above all, for our family, our friends, and even strangers. This is how we learn to love one another, and this is how we learn to heal each other, to build each other up and not tear each other down.

Conclusion

We should not neglect the importance of healthy, balanced living in our lives, and we should seek to do this as an end, not as a means. We will find that the more we do this, the more we will have more peace, more love, and greater joy. We will find that we have more energy for others, and we will have more energy to encourage others to take care of themselves. We will find that we have less need for medicine, for both physical and emotional support, and we will have less need to cope with depression, anxiety, and other emotional struggles.

This is a work in progress, but I believe that we need to take responsibility for our own health and happiness. We cannot rely on other people to take care of our health and happiness. We need to take responsibility for these things as well, for our own sake and for those who depend on us. We need to have a healthy balance of life, and we need to do this not just for ourselves, but for others.