Happy Sunday

Spiritual Lives
I know many Christians whose spiritual lives have ground nearly to a halt. Oh yes, they still love God and are determined to live their lives for Jesus but their inner fire seems to have gone out. Their devotional lives are dry, and ministry efforts feel more like a duty than a joy.  God is like a great mountain, and there are an infinite different facets to His beauty and glory. The spiritual disciplines of the Christian life are like paths to help us come into the presence of God to behold a different aspect of His glory. One day as we meditate on Scripture, we see one aspect of God’s glory. On another day as we pray we see a different sight of His beauty. The problem is that too often, we get so focused on completing the spiritual discipline that we forget why we are doing it. We get enamored with completing the discipline, and forget that the value in the discipline is to commune with God and behold His glory.  Think of the Spiritual Disciplines as paths that lead us into the presence of God to commune with Him. Think of them as tools or helps to bring us to God. They are means to an end. They are not ends in themselves. We were not made for the spiritual disciplines. The spiritual disciplines were made for us. In other words, they are to serve to enable us to grow in our relationship with God. Don’t worry about it if you are not doing every spiritual discipline every day. But definitely avail yourself of those disciplines that prove helpful in enabling you to connect with God and walk with Him.