Blog readers: Chi Alpha @ Stanford is engaging in our annual summer reading project. As we read through an annotated translation of Pascal’s Pensees called Christianity For Modern Pagans, I’ll post the thoughts I’m emailing the students here (which will largely consist of excerpts I found insightful). They are all tagged summer-reading-project-2020. The reading schedule is online.
Our adventure through Celebration of Discipline the book is over. Now it’s time for Celebration of Discipline the reality TV show. We’ve got to live it or we wasted many hours this summer. 🙂
Foster covered twelve disciplines which are all helpful, but remember that three disciplines are core:
- praying to God
- meditating upon Scripture
- participating in a worshiping community
Other disciplines are good, but these are leg day. It’s tempting to skip them, but over time it will be obvious that you did.
These three are the generative disciplines, and therefore the core disciplines. They beget the others. When we pray, the Spirit may speak to us to begin a fast. When we read the Word, a verse might cause us to begin serving someone. When we gather with God’s people to worship and hear a sermon, we might feel compelled to confess a sin. If you practice these three regularly the others will come over time, but you can practice solitude and simplicity for a lifetime and never move beyond that.
So keep those front and center as you explore other spiritual disciplines. And remember why you are doing them. It’s not because they feel good (although sometimes they will). You do the disciplines because you want the outcome: godliness. In 1 Timothy 4:7b Paul says, “train yourself to be godly.” Peter likewise teaches that we should therefore “make every effort” in our pursuit of a godly life (2 Peter 1:3–8). We make every effort — we train ourselves — by means of the disciplines.
Finally, remember this phrase: “trying without training leads to frustration.” May these next few months be fruitful as you train for godliness!
P.S. Here are the results of my survey about which chapter people found most helpful: tied for first place were the chapters on prayer and fasting, honorable mention goes to the chapter on solitude which was only one vote shy. Other chapters received some love as well, but those three were far ahead. So if you’re behind on the reading, maybe jump straight to those chapters for maximum benefit. And don’t forget that I’ve posted my commentary on each chapter at https://xastanford.org/summer-reading