Spiritual Disciplines (7)

I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day… Revelation 1.9, 10

The use of spiritual disciplines
I’m sometimes asked if I don’t think all this emphasis on spiritual disciplines is just a little legalistic. Of course, praying, reading and meditating in God’s Word, practicing solitude and fasting, and any other spiritual disciplines can become ends in themselves, things we do to prove how spiritual we are compared with other people. Like the rich man in the temple, thanking the Lord for how much he fasted and prayed (Lk. 18.9-14).

But just because something good can be abused doesn’t mean we should avoid it. Spiritual disciplines don’t have to become exercises in self-righteousness. This is certainly not why the Lord gave and prescribes them. Spiritual disciplines are for the strengthening of our souls, by bringing us into more immediate and constant fellowship and communion with our risen Lord. In spiritual disciplines we are seeking the Lord – His presence, glory, will, and pleasure – by means that are specially designed to accomplish this end. When we practice spiritual disciplines as the Lord intends, we don’t end up like some sort of Jack Horner Christian, sticking our thumb into the pie of spiritual disciplines and declaring, “My, what a good Christian am I!”

No. The practice of spiritual disciplines, rightly engaged, brings us into the presence of the Lord, to know His glory, delight in His beauty, immerse ourselves in His strength, rejoice in His love, draw on His power, be renewed in His mind and refortified with His heart, so that, as the Spirit works in us, we are increasingly transformed into the image of Jesus Christ in every aspect of our lives.

And if that’s legalism, then I say give me more of it!

The Lord’s Day
The trump card of legalism is most often played when it comes to defending our use of the Lord’s Day. For most Christians, I suspect, the Lord’s Day is really only the Lord’s Half-Day – the time they’re gathered with other believers for church. The rest of the day is a kind of “free day” for doing whatever we might like, as long as it’s not work (although, for many believers, not even work is denied them on the Lord’s Day).

We have persuaded ourselves that remembering and guarding the Lord’s Day, to contemplate and celebrate our Creator and Redeemer, and to be renewed entirely in Him apart from our normal work or recreations – keeping the Lord’s Day is a matter of personal interest and choice. We act, for all intents and purposes, as though that half-day is not in fact the Lord’s Day, but ours, to do with what we choose, quite apart of any spiritual focus or interest.

And when such a view is confronted with all the many Old Testament texts instructing and warning and urging us concerning the sanctification of the Lord’s Day, we often hear, “Oh, since keeping the Lord’s Day is not repeated in the New Testament, we’re no longer required to keep it like that.”

Yet keeping the Lord’s Day, one day in seven, is so integral to key aspects of the life of faith, that to fail to honor it as God intends is to lessen belief in cardinal Christian doctrines and to strengthen the members of our bodies for self-indulgence rather than self-denial.

A day for all spiritual disciplines
Since all spiritual disciplines, rightly engaged, bring us into the joy and pleasure of the Lord – and what’s not to like about that? – then if we made the Lord’s Day a focus for spiritual disciplines, we might actually find more joy in seeking the Lord and resting in Him throughout that day than in all the frivolous, self-interested diversions with which we otherwise occupy this time.

Start your Lord’s Day with prayer and Scripture, just like every other day. But include a special focus on the gathering of God’s people for worship. Make sure you confess your sins. Think about people you’re likely to see, and prepare yourself before the Lord with words to encourage and edify them (Heb. 10.24). Get your soul ready to join other believers in worship, and give yourself entirely to the Lord during that time.

When you come home, practice a short fast – you might skip that Sunday afternoon snack, for example. Take up the discipline of reading from the classics of Christian literature, so that you enter into the life, vision, and walk of those who have gone before us in the faith. Schedule a time of solitude on the Lord’s Day. Get some needed physical rest. Review the morning sermon, sing the morning hymns again, talk with your spouse or family about your week with the Lord, and plan the week ahead so as to make sure your time is committed to the Lord, His wisdom, and His work before you actually begin the week (Ps. 90.12, 16, 17).

Make the Lord’s Day a day of spiritual disciplines – a day of entering more fully, for more extended time, and to a greater depth than you can on any other day of the week into the presence, joy, and pleasure of the Lord. If you do, not only will you strengthen all your practice of spiritual disciplines, but you’ll know such joy and refreshing in the Lord, that you’ll wonder why you ever did anything other than this on His Day.

Next steps: For one month, try devoting the Lord’s Day, well, to the Lord. Seek Him throughout the day in rest and spiritual disciplines. See if you don’t grow closer to Him as a result.

T. M. Moore

This week’s study, Spiritual Disciplines, is part 3 of a 7-part series on The Disciplined Life, and is available as a free download by clicking here. We have prepared a special worksheet to help you begin getting your disciplines in proper shape for seeking the Kingdom. Write to T. M. at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for you free PDF of the “Disciplined Life Worksheet.”

A rightly-disciplined life requires a Kingdom vision, and that vision is centered on Jesus Christ exalted. T. M. has prepared a series of meditations on the glorious vision of Christ, based on Scripture and insights from the Celtic Christian tradition. Order your copy of Be Thou My Vision by clicking here.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.