Spiritual Exercises

So, Sarah and I run 5 times a week.  So far we've run 2 half marathons and one 10K and are looking at some more races to run in the future.  I have come to understand very well the value of exercise in my physical and emotional life.

However, when I hear about spiritual exercise (or spiritual discipline) my mind immediately starts to balk.  Not because I don't think developing a deeper spiritual life is important.  But because for so long I viewed such things as...to be blunt...a waste of time.  Now don't misunderstand, I don't think they are a waste of time.  I just used to feel like that when I was younger.  The reason that I felt that way is the concept of spiritual disciplines always seemed so passive and egocentric.  I associated it with monks cloistered in monasteries ignoring the real world.   As I've grown, I've come to understand that, in truth, some people do use spiritual discipline this way.  A way of imagining themselves as more spiritual, more connected to God, while completely separating themselves from God's work of reaching the lost with the gospel.  However, I have also seen the result of people who are all about "reaching the lost," but who have no spiritual depth to accomplish the task. (Typically, these people don't stay with God's plan too long.)

Smith does well in re-coining the term as "spiritual exercises" noting the active work required as well as their ability through the Spirit to make one a stronger Christian who will be more effective at accomplishing God's will in the world.  It is my prayer for myself that as I progress through this book, I will always keep in front of me that God wants me to develop a stronger spiritual life in order that I may show His glory to world around me.