Some recent discussions have reminded me how much confusion there is regarding where to place a spiritual discipline like personal worship or private prayer into a life of grace.
We must distance ourselves from any understanding of spiritual disciplines which turns them into acts which gain us spiritual merit or which in and of themselves mark us as holy. The fruit of the spirit is ‘love, joy, and peace’, not ‘quiet time, prayer, and grape juice’.
One can be humble, gracious, kind, and Spirit-filled, and never have a quiet time. As well, one can be daily in the word at the crack of dawn, and be full of doubt, short-tempered, and irascible. The mere fact that we have a quiet time does not mark us off as spiritual; its absence does not identify us as lost.
God blesses me way beyond what I deserve. It is such a meager understanding of God for me to think that I will be blessed today because I might have had a good quiet time. He blesses me because he chooses to do so.
Spiritual disciplines, whether public (like worship) or private (like a quiet time) do not mark us as Christians. So do they have value?
Of course they do.
I have said it so often that people will tire of it: the spiritual disciplines put us in the way of grace. If I want to be washed, I must stand in the stream. If I want to experience and grow through the work of the Holy Spirit, it is good that I put myself where he has shown himself to work. If the Holy Spirit nurtures faith through the ministry of the scriptures, then it is good that I often put myself where I am exposed to that word.
I hunger for the grace of God. I long to be changed by him. I long to hear the voice of my Savior speaking to me. I don’t know where else to go to hear that or to find him than at those places where he has promised to meet with me and to speak.
I want us to view the disciplines, such as a quiet time, neither as badges of holiness nor duties to endure. I want us to look at them as opportunities. I want us to see them as opportunities to see the window into heaven cracked just a bit so that we might see Jesus. We should hunger for discipline not because it makes us holy, but because there we come to know our savior.
I am very interested in comments on these thoughts.
A sinner's 2 cents
Having grown up in a legalistic, fundamentalist background, and even though I’m a presbyterian now, I still find it difficult to estrange myself from the mindset that somehow my performance moves God to bless me. It’s like if I have my quiet time in the morning, God will bless what I do the rest of the day. But if I fail to spent time quiet time with God, then somehow the rest of the day seems to far apart. Even though this kind of thinking misses the purpose of the gospel, I still sometimes find myself in that mode. The fact of the matter is, the gospel is not just to be preached to unconverted sinners only, but to regenerate christians as well. In Christ is our only acceptance. Thanks for the post Randy.Tom
Gus
This subject raises conflicting emotions in me. On the one hand, you write “One can be humble…and never have a quiet time.” That gives me an excuse for laxity. (I realize that is not your intention.)On the other, you write about the benefits of QT; then I feel guilty when I neglect this spiritual disclipine and virtue.–ae
Staci
It is definitely my experience that there is no correlation between my behavior and my quiet time. Often, I sin magnificently on days when I have had fabulous quiet times. Other days, I feel closer to God than ever before and I realize I didn’t have a quiet time that morning. Where I do see the correlation is wanting more of His Word when I do have a quiet time. When I heed the call of the alarm and I start meditating on a passage, I never, ever want to stop. I’m never looking at the clock saying, “Man, when is this hour going to be over so I can stop?” When I’m in the thick of it, I always want more. Such experiences should make me jump up at the call of the alarm EVERY morning, but consistency is a constant battle for me. So, I guess what I’m saying is that quiet times really do “put me in the way of grace.” When I’m in the “way” (i.e. a quiet time), I’m experiencing “grace” (wanting more of Him). It is only when I’m exercising the spiritual discipline that I want Him more. Because it is clear that when I’m not in the “way”, I’m not necessarily apt to want more of Him on the merits of my own thoughts about Him.My friend Margie and I have somewhat heated discussions about this topic regularly. She won’t make any decisions unless she is “prayed up” as she says and she seems to just freeze and fall apart if she doesn’t have a quiet time. I tell her it is becoming a work in her life. She tells me I don’t put enough importance on it. I think the spiritual discipine of quiet time is really important, but my sinful nature really battles a seven-day a week consistency with it.So, thanks for putting it that way – that it puts us in the way of grace. I heard you say that in a past Sunday School class, but I didn’t really think about it much until I read this blog.Staci, who will once again beg and plead at the throne of God tonight to help her wake up at 4:30 so she can have a quiet time in the morning…