Tuesday, July 25, 2017 The Narrow Path of Discipline (Inspired by Celebration of Discipline, by Richard Foster)
Tuesday, July 25, 2017
The Narrow Path of Discipline
(Inspired by Celebration of Discipline, by Richard Foster)
Scripture:
Matthew 7:13-14
13 “Enter
by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the
way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.14 Because[a] narrow is the gate
and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are
few who find it.
Proverbs 16:25
There is a way that
seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.
John 14:6
Jesus said to him,
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except
through me.
Galatians 5:24
And those who belong
to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed
to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing
you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and
perfect.
Matthew 16:24-25
Then Jesus told his
disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his
cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever
loses his life for my sake will find it.
Excerpt From Celebration of Discipline:
(pp 6-8, edited for length)
When we despair of gaining inner transformation through
human powers of will and determination, we are open to a wonderful new realization:
inner righteousness is a gift from God to be graciously received. The needed
change within us is God’s work, not ours. The demand is for an inside job, and
only God can work from the inside. We cannot attain or earn this righteousness
of the kingdom of God; it is a grace that is given.
…The moment we grasp this breathtaking insight we are in
danger of an error in the opposite direction. We are tempted to believe there
is nothing we can do.
…God has given us the Disciplines of the spiritual life as a
means of receiving His grace. The Disciplines allow us to place ourselves
before God so that He can transform us.
…by themselves the Spiritual Disciplines can do nothing;
they can only get us to the place where something can be done. … God has ordained
the Disciplines of the spiritual life as the means by which we place ourselves
where he can bless us.
Devotional:
What a balancing act, this life of the believer. On one hand
we are told to rely totally on God. He is in all, through all, above all. On
the other hand, we are given the admonishment to walk the narrow path. This can
feel like a push and pull that can leave us throwing our hands in the air and
giving up on trying to get it right.
This is exactly where we need to begin. The narrow path
provides the “short list” to life. There seem to be fewer “dos” than “don’ts”.
However, when we begin to dig in to that list of “dos”, we can see that just as
there will always be a new facet of the Lord to capture our imagination, there
will always be a new and exciting place in The Lord where we have not yet ventured.
There is plenty material, my friends, to keep us satisfied and engaged for a
lifetime if we narrow our focus to what God has for us.
The original lie of the serpent is that the Tree of the
Knowledge of Good and Evil would present Adam and Eve, and us, with a richer
and fuller life. However, the limits that God places on us and the narrow path
and losing of certain “freedoms” to “do what we want” are truly, as Pastor Andy
Stanley shares, guardrails to our life.
As disciples ourselves and as the chief human disciplers of
our children, walking the narrow path allows us the focus that we need. As Paul
said, “One thing I do. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward
call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:13b-14).”
The life of the believer when practicing these disciplines
is far from boring or uneventful! It is narrow, but it is both fulfilling and
full. I understand why Pastor Foster called this work Celebration of
Discipline. It is genuinely possible to live a joyous, celebratory life when
focusing in on God’s design for our life and way of living.
Prayer:
Lord, today I thank You for the narrow path. Thank You that
You have delivered by Your Word the means to this life. Show me where I need to
let go of aspects of living that keep me from the narrow way. Thank you that
there is something that I can do to be in alignment with Your will for me.
Intercession:
I lift up my child(ren) to Your throne today for Your wisdom,
guidance, healing, deliverance, and blessing. Show me how to be the parent You
have called me to be. Give me creative ideas for discipling them, and help me
to be the model You would have me be. (I love to keep track of our needs in a
journal. It is now on my computer, but has taken many forms. My husband keeps
track of his in an app on his phone, and I have over the years written in a
paper journal. It encourages me to see what God has done!).
Thank You, Father, for Your hand in our home. You are the One
Who causes us to be able to work out these Disciplines.
Comments
Post a Comment