Everyday Christianity: Spiritual Life (7)
Delight yourself also in the LORD,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the LORD,
Trust also in Him,
And He shall bring it to pass. Psalm 37.4, 5
The spiritual life
In this part of our study on “Everyday Christianity”, we have been trying to understand, access, and improve our experience of the spiritual life. We who believe in Jesus have been renewed spiritually, and we have the Spirit of the living God dwelling within us. We need to understand how these realities affect our daily lives. Our approach has been to simplify and organize the life of faith under three headings, define, depend, and demonstrate.
It’s important that we work daily to define the spiritual matters that define our lives: Christ, His Kingdom, His salvation, and His calling for our lives. The better we understand these matters, the clearer will become our vision of the Lord and His glory, and this will help us want to depend on Him more fully.
Depending on the Lord involves desiring Him above all else, denying everything in our lives that keeps us from moving toward Him and His Kingdom, determining a course for each day and all the time and activities of our lives, and continually detoxing from any sin that may have found a way into our souls.
As we thus define our faith more clearly and depend on the Lord more consistently, we can expect to demonstrate His power in words and deeds of love for God and our neighbors.
Thus, the spiritual life which we have in Christ is intended to make us more like Him, like our Lord and King, Jesus Christ. This way of life, the spiritual life, is the way of true hope, joy, and delight.
Delighting in the Lord
Jesus promised full and abundant life to all who follow Him (Jn. 10.10). In His Presence we may know fullness of joy and holy pleasures forevermore (Ps. 16.11). As we experience this true spiritual life more completely, we will rejoice to say with the apostle Paul, “For me to live is Christ!” (Phil. 1.21). Following Jesus is demanding, difficult, and draining at times; but following Him leads to the true delight every person earnestly desires in life.
The psalmist promises that if we delight ourselves in the Lord, He will give us the desires of our heart. Don’t miss the beauty of this simple word of promise. First, we must know, see, fear, adore, and clearly perceive the Lord. We must define our goal and objective in life as the “one thing” David and Paul desired above all else—life with and in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Then we can delight in Him—enjoy and serve Him—by all the means He has provided for us—prayer, the Word of God, meditation, and His own Presence with us always. And living this way has a self-reinforcing dynamic to it. The more we delight in the Lord by desiring Him, denying sinful ways, determining to walk in His steps, and detoxing from all sins, the more we experience the delight—the sweet satisfaction—He has created us to know. And the more we delight in the Lord in this way, the more we desire Him in our hearts. And when we desire Him in our hearts the way He intends, then He will give us more of those desires, increasing our vision of the Lord, our dependence on and delight in Him, and our ability to demonstrate the life-transforming reality of the spiritual life.
So, how’s it going?
What a privilege and blessing to be a people called to such a life in Jesus Christ! Begin your day with this orientation, and continue in it throughout the day, and your days will be filled with seeking the Lord in all you do, that you may delight increasingly in Him.
Is this your experience as a believer? Do you delight in the Lord in this way, so that you desire Him more and more, and He meets your desires by giving more of Himself to you day by day?
This is what God has planned for you, and nothing in this life even remotely compares to the utter and complete delight of living in Jesus Christ.
Make sure you have defined your Christian life in line with God’s definition. Then, every day, discipline your heart to love the Lord, the vision of Whose glory and power and goodness and beauty is growing clearer to you every day. Take up the disciplines of depending on the Lord, so that you demonstrate the resurrection life of Jesus more consistently every day.
Then rest back in the arms of our Savior and King, and delight in the full and abundant life—the spiritual life—for which He lived, died, rose again, and reigns in glory.
For reflection or discussion
1. What does it mean to “delight” in something? In what kinds of things do people typically “delight”?
2. Why should we expect that delighting in the Lord would be a powerful and joyful experience?
3. What can you do to delight in the Lord more consistently throughout the day?
Next steps—Transformation: The more we delight in Jesus, the more we become like Him. How do you expect to experience this in the next weeks and months?
T. M. Moore
Men, check out the fall schedule of reading and study groups. You can register now by going here. Take a look at the clearance sale in our bookstore. All the books in our inventory are free. Order several for yourself and some friends.
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment to give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
A spiritual life is a disciplined life in every facet. How does this work out? Our book, A Disciplined Life, can help you review and improve your own disciplines toward a more robust walk with and work for the Lord. For a free PDF of The Disciplined Life, click here. And while you’re there, download a free PDF copy of our book, Enjoying God.
And please prayerfully consider supporting The Fellowship of Ailbe with your prayers and gifts. You can contribute online, via PayPal or Anedot, or by sending a gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, P. O. Box 8213, Essex, VT 05451.Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
