All Christians are called to service. We serve God by serving others. But this isn’t like volunteering for a local charity. Even though volunteering for a local charity can be part of a discipline of service. If this is confusing, well, welcome to my world.

When is service a discipline, when is it a Christian response, and when is it just doing good for the sake of another person, whether you are Christian or not? Let’s break these down.

Non-Christian service- God is the source of all good and so when non-Christians serve they do so within God’s realm. Human conscience alone will lift up many opportunities to serve.

Christian response- When we follow Jesus and learn from him we become the kind of people who serve others naturally as a response to the love we are given by him.

Service as a discipline- Intentional acts of service, focused areas of service, hidden acts of service (see my last “secrecy” post) are all specific ways one can expand God’s influence on one’s own life.

When someone joins the armed forces, we say they are “in the service.” When they are discharged or retired, it is called, “getting out.” Well, when we join Jesus in the greatest mission of the galaxies, to do Kingdom work with him, we are “in the service” for eternity. We never “get out.”

The discipline of “secrecy.” Now we are getting to the core of the matter. Can we become the kind of disciples who do not seek the recognition of the growth occurring in our lives? Can we serve without at the same time looking consciously or subconsciously for affirmation? This is huge.

It is important for us to affirm and encourage others in their service, but can this happen in Christian circles without getting caught up in the recognition trap? It is a “both and” world. Both not seeking the reward of others noticing what I am doing for the Lord and encouraging my brothers and sisters of the faith with a job well done. The greater influence God trusts you with, the greater the battle for humility.

Humility is the key to Kingdom power. “Can I trust you with the power I give you?” is a haunting question from Jesus. The more he can trust us, the more influence we have. It has been said this way.

“What can Jesus accomplish through us if it doesn’t matter who gets the credit?”

All credit belongs to Jesus in the first place.

There is a way to bring together silence and solitude, bible reading, and prayer. It is called, Lectio Divina. This is an ancient practice that blends all of these disciplines. Here is a brief description.

Reading/ Listening
This is what St. Benedict called, “Hearing with the ear of our heart.” Take a brief passage of the Bible and read it slowly. Listen carefully as if God is speaking this word alone to you today.

Meditation
Repeat the passage, a phrase, and then a word from the passage in silence. Meditate on it. Memorize it. Connect it to other thoughts and memories you have. Spend time slowly taking it in.

Prayer
Pray the word to God. Spend time lifting it up and changing you from the inside. Give back to God what you are “hearing” from the word.

Contemplation
Different than meditation, this is a time when we just quietly rest in God without words. A clearing of the mind and enjoying God.

Lectio Divina is not a technique. It is a gift. Why not open this gift and discover what Christians have for centuries? Insight, rest, and refreshment.

An animal that “ruminates” is one that chews on a cud. Like a cow. We use this same term when we are talking about quietly paying close attention to something. Like reading the Bible.

If the Bible is really inspired by God to reflect exactly what God wants us to know to live in his Kingdom now, then it would be wise to read it. Like a love letter, though, not a newspaper article. We want to “ruminate” on the Word, slowly taking in and savoring how it speaks to us today. God is eternal, and so somehow the meaning of his Word always applies directly to any given age. An example.

If you are really stressed out at work or at school right now, “chew” on this for a while.

And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process? (Mark 8:36)

Like other spiritual disciplines, fasting is shared by many religions. The Christian discipline has an ample biblical witness from Moses to Jesus himself. 40 days in the wilderness being tempted by the devil is a very well known event in Jesus’ life. So, what is the purpose of fasting?

Unlike fasting for political purposes, it is not to draw attention to yourself. Quite the contrary. When Jesus spoke of fasting he said,

Matthew 6:16a
“And when you fast, don’t make it obvious, as the hypocrites do…”

Fasting is to focus your mind, body, and spirit on Jesus. It isn’t meant to be difficult or painful. In fact, according to Jesus, you may be “eating” anyway (John 4:32).

Fasting can be abstaining from different items of food or drink, or a period of time without food or drink, or without food. Throughout the ages Christians have tried a variety of fasts. Sunup to sundown (like Muslim Ramadan), once a week for 24 hours, even strict fasts like twice a week, eating only.

I recommend a fast from dinner one night until dinner the next. During this time I would drink as it relieves dehydration headaches. When you fast, you might have cravings, and this is a good thing. This focuses your attention on Jesus, the reason for the fast. This can be a spiritually sharp time to tune in to God, and so take advantage of the opportunity.

“Jesus went out in the desert alone.”

Lord, where did you go? We couldn’t find you.”

Before every major decision, Jesus spent time alone and prayed. Why?

Silence and solitude are related spiritual disciplines that have rich history. Spending time alone and quiet is a refreshment for your very soul. I asked one of our sons why he thought Jesus was so fond of being alone and he said, “To get away from all the sin for awhile.”

We don’t have that advantage as we bring sin with us, but that is a keen observation. Like soldiers in the time of war pausing to play a football game, it is good to get away. But with silence and solitude, we may get away from all the busyness of business, the ups and downs of our daily lives, but we actually are more “bothered” by someone else. God.

During times of being alone and quiet, God has a chance to really get our attention. In the Orthodox Church tradition before the gospel is read the priest commands the congregation with a simple word,

“Attend!”

This is what silence and solitude can do for us. Cause a pause.

“Talking with Jesus about how it is going in our life together.” Prayer is not something that takes tremendous spiritual depth. Whatever that means. We are created to connect with God. Imagio Deo. Image of God. Created in God’s image. I think that is what the image is like. When we pray, we reflect the relationship God has in mind for us.

How do you pray? What concerns you today? What is on your mind? It doesn’t make much sense to try to figure out what you ought to be praying about. What God would “like” to hear. When I speak with someone and I try to say what I think they want to hear that is called “manipulation.” Good luck trying to manipulate God. Honesty is absolutely essential in all relationships. Why would we expect less in our relationship with God?

Another thing. When you pray for people in need, pray for all people in need. At our Christian school chapel children are always praying for the homeless. Good choice. Yet, think about it. Who needs more pray than the CEO of a large corporation? A wealthy developer? A venture capitalist? Who will lift up their concerns that they would make good decisions which are going to affect the lives of millions? That they would be just in their dealings with others?

Another way to speak of Jesus taking control of our lives is to use the imagery of the throne of our lives. Sitting on the throne is the ruler. So, the goal of discipleship is to get Jesus on the throne. How does this happen?

Who is on the throne now? If you are on the throne of your life then you need to get off that throne for Jesus to get on. Discipleship happens when a throne emptied by you is filled by Jesus. Jesus will not jump up on your lap.

So the emptying (death to self) becomes the way to be filled. Filled by the Spirit who takes charge of the throne. The way God has chosen for us to die to self is the way of spiritual disciplines. We do not change directly. We do not will ourselves to be empty.

“I am a humble empty vessel ready to be filled by you, God….Right now!”

It doesn’t work that way. “Me” on the throne is not going to leave easily. The direct approach will be a lot of kicking and screaming. I have to “trick” my sinful nature that just “wants what I want, and I want it now.” This is where the spiritual disciplines come in. It is like doing an “end around” of my self. I am going to reflect on a few of these in the days ahead. These disciplines are the ones Jesus himself modeled in order to gain access to his heavenly Father.

On the path of discipleship, our greatest desire is to have more of God in our lives. At the same time, we don’t possess the capability to demand of God more of himself. God is in charge God. We can’t orchestrate his life. What can we do?

We are in charge of choices. We have the ability to consciously choose to die more to our being in control. “Death to self” is an act of will. This is where I realize that my life isn’t going to shatter simply because I don’t get my way. We can’t force God to give us more of him, but we can give up more of ourselves, and guess who will fill in our will?

God.

It is like the “Control” Motel with a “Vacancy” sign out front. We invite God to come on in and make himself at home. Then he will “leave a light on” for us.

1 Peter 5:6-7 (NLT)

So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and in his good time he will honor you. [7] Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about what happens to you.



Humility is connected to emotional health in this passage. I wonder why?

Well, more than anything I think it is about control. The more control we try to have of our lives and others, the more we place ourselves in positions where anxiety is likely. When you are trying to juggle the whole world to have it “my way,” there is a price to be paid. I remember a saying by John Maxwell.

“Unless God is in control of your life; your life is out of control.”

But isn’t that just what happens in real life? One of the reasons people don’t come to trust in Jesus is because it brings a loss of control. Or at least the illusion of control because we all know there is no controlling, after all. When you say, “Yes,” to Jesus, you say, “No,” to you. It’s hard to admit you need a Savior and a Guide.

Those who do trust in Jesus have a hard time giving up their illusions of control, also. That’s why there is so much shenanigans going on when it comes to the Bible. Take your desires, your efforts to be in charge of what you want in life and then go to the Bible and try to find passages that support your point of view. Or as is more likely the case today, when the Bible universally says your desires are not healthy, just say the Bible isn’t meaningful to your context. Either way Christian or non-Christian, illusion of control is the disease and humility is the cure. When you come to Christ you die to self.