Topic: After reading Whitney's Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, what do
you understand his main argument to be? Do you agree with him or disagree?
Why or why not? What are three spiritual disciplines you need to strengthen and
how do you plan to implement them?
d d d d d d d d d d Whitney states from the beginning of his book that spiritual disciples are
necessary for the purpose of Godliness. Every Christian should be striving to be
more like Christ and the only way to do that is to develop spiritual disciplines
centered around scripture that foster spiritual growth. “Engage in the Spiritual
Disciplines given by God in Scripture so that you are continually shown your need
for Christ and the infinite supply of grace and mercy to be found by faith in Jesus
Christ.”[1] His point is Christians need God’s grace and mercy to be saved but
they also need His precepts for discipline in their daily lives to grow in their
efforts to be more Christ-like. Just like an athlete; the discipline of practice, eating
right, and studying all aspects of their sport makes them the best they can be.
Likewise, meditating on God’s word, prayer, journaling, and other disciplines help
Christians become the best they can be.
d d d d d d d d d d I agree wholeheartedly with Whitney’s assessment as I have experienced
what he teaches in his book on a personal level during a lifetime of sports and
now with my walk with God. Discipline to do the right things with the proper
direction makes all the difference in the world when you’re trying to improve in
anything. Three areas of spiritual discipline that I need to work on are silence and
solitude, journaling, and perseverance in the disciplines. With a demanding job,
family life, school life, and ministry work the opportunities to have one on one
time with God in quiet are very limited. “You may need an extended time of
silence and solitude to settle your doubts or reestablish your spiritual
moorings.”[2] I need to reorganize my schedule to devote time for silence and
solitude. I feel that I miss God’s word for my life sometimes because I don’t slow
down to listen to what He is saying, at times He gets drowned out with the noise
of life.
d d d d d d d d d d Journaling is something I am horrible at and I know I am missing out on
seeing everything God is doing in my life because I have not committed to writing
down all His blessing for me. “As a Christian, your journal is a place to document
the works and ways of God in your life.”[3] This hurts my heart and journaling is
something that I need to discipline myself to do every day at the end of my day
so that I don’t forget all the wonderful things God is doing in my life.
Perseverance in the disciplines is the root of why I need work in the other two
areas. At times with all the hustle and bustle of life, it gets harder to do some
things and when that happens I begin to let my guard down and relax my
disciplines or add things that are really “barnacles” in my daily schedule. “Spiritual
Disciplines are actually one of the ways God lightens your load and gives you
smoother sailing.”[4] I have to remember to persevere in the things of God so I
don’t get bogged down with the things of this world.
Bibliography
Whitney, Donald S. Spiritual Disciplines For The Christian Life. Colorado Springs,
CO: NavPress Publishing, 2020.
[1] Donald S. Whitney. Spiritual Disciplines For The Christian Life. Colorado Springs,
CO: NavPress Publishing, 2020, 19.
d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d [2] Whitney. Spiritual Discipline, 244.
d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d [3] Ibid., 249.
d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d [4] Ibid., 289.
