A Framework of Faith/Spiritual Disciplines

He keeps his flesh chaste for the love of the Lord, flesh which he has prepared as a temple for the Holy Spirit...and which he offers to the Lord as a pleasing living sacrifice.

  - Sechnall, Audite Omnes Amantes (Irish, 6th century)

Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

  - Romans 13.13, 14

These were the verses that stabbed Augustine's soul, convicting him of years of carousing and immoral behavior as he rationalized his unbelief under various intellectual guises. But a simple child's song, overheard in a garden, led him to "Take up and read, take up and read," and when he opened the nearest Bible, these verses thrust him into the arms of the Savior.

Patrick, according to Sechnall, was chaste and pure, although he must have faced many temptations as he traveled among the wild and sensual Irish, preaching the Good News of the Kingdom of God. He offered himself - soul and body - to the Lord each day, to be a vessel for His use. He employed his body for the Kingdom, and made no provision for the flesh.

All around us, day by the day, the world beckons us to indulge our flesh - whether in eating, drinking, traveling to resorts, treating ourselves to the latest fashion, or gratifying our prurient or sexual impulses. "Go on, why not?" is the message of our culture. "Everybody else is. Why shouldn't you?"

Well, precisely because we are not our own. We have been bought with a price. Our bodies are the temple of the living Christ, and we must discipline them for His service and protect them against whatever threatens to subvert His cause in us.

Fasting can help in disciplining the body, as can learning to pray without ceasing. Spiritual disciplines - those exercisers of the soul - are the key to reining in the body and channeling its strength in the direction of love for God and neighbors. If your spiritual disciplines are weak, your body will be vulnerable to the ways of the flesh. If your disciplines are strong - like Patrick's were, and Augustine's became - then you will find strength in all the members of your body to glorify God in all things.

This is what we're made for, and to this we must apply ourselves, putting on the Lord Jesus Christ, and making no - none, nada, zero - provision for the flesh.

Today at The Fellowship of Ailbe

The greatest need in American higher education? Well, not more science. Check out today's ReVision.

Help us spread the word about The Fellowship and its resources. Forward today's edition of Crosfigell to some friends. Let us know the email addresses of those to whom you forward this (just add my email to theirs) and we'll follow-up with a word of encouragement and welcome in your name.

T. M. Moore, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.