Have you had a good summer? Did you vacation? Did you do the things that you can only do in summer that seem to refresh us? There is something about the changes in the seasons that often give us a little pause; at least they give us the opportunity to pause. We are coming close to the time when we enter into a new ministry season. Family night will be starting back up on September 13th. Kids are back in school and the activities of summer are giving way to fall. This week at church I want to give you an opportunity to stop and look around, spend a little time analyzing where you are and where you are headed, specifically in the area of your spiritual disciplines.
We hate the word discipline, mostly because it is so often used in the negative sense. It gives the feeling of strict and restricted. When I experience discipline it is limiting and often painful. If I discipline myself I am often forcing myself to do things that I don’t want to (but those cookies taste so good!) but know I should. I have noticed that while I often hate discipline I really like the results of discipline. I hate exercise but love being in shape. I hate music practice but want to play well. Isn’t that true in our spiritual life as well. We want to feel close to God but we don’t want to have to work at it. Time to enter the real world, because we need discipline.
Tomorrow I will talk about three specific disciplines, our interaction with scripture, our prayer time and our worship. Spend tonight and tomorrow considering these three areas of your life. How are they doing? Do they need to be refreshed and recharged? Do you need a new pattern or a new commitment? Is it time to tick up a notch and become more disciplined?
See you at church.
Pastor Chris
