Motive

Had a great conversation the other day with a friend of mine, Charlie Levine. He challenged me to think about the “why” of spiritual disciplines, not just the “how”. What’s the motive for undertaking a curriculum like Formed of vowing together, praying together, practicing service or Sabbath or simplicity together?

Charlie, now, he knows something about discipline. He knows how effective it can be to develop good habits. He teaches exercise classes–I take one from him. He will let me know when it’s time to add more weight; he will give me trouble if I skip a class out of laziness.

But he knows the “why” behind a discipline is just as important, if not more so, than how the discipline is performed.

Here’s his example of a bad starting point. Don’t attempt the spiritual disciplines, he says, if you’re starting from thoughts like “I really suck, I’m afraid, I’ve got a God that has a smite button.” Just don’t even do them. If you do, you are doing them because you think God won’t hurt you anymore because you are “being good.”

Here’s my example: the disciplines will be useless to you if you’re using them to control God. You could be thinking, “Once I get good at praying, God will give me what I want.” I know I’m often guilty of thinking this way. I’ll tell you from personal experience–it’s not going to happen.

No one’s going to start from perfect motives, but it doesn’t hurt to ask yourself why you want to commit to this.

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