Prompt: 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?
Whitney’s Main Argument
d d d d d d d d d d At the commencement of Donald S. Whitney’s text, the reader may
quickly presume that the main point of the book regards the serious
consideration of undertaking spiritual disciplines. But it does not take long before
he understands that Whitney intensely considers the purpose of those disciplines
as his main argument—that is to say, their primary objective, producing conformity
of the Christian to the image of Christ, is “godliness.”[1] Whitney, moreover,
intends the enduring consciousness of this fact as he ensures its reiteration in
the title of each chapter (e.g., “...for the Purpose of Godliness).[2]
Regarding Agreement
d d d d d d d d d d Whitney approaches each chapter almost as an attorney approaches a
case. He is prepared with the support of the pinnacle document—Scripture. As
such, he makes his case solid enough that the reader is left without a choice to
agree. If he is honest, he must agree. Additionally, even the novice believer
concurs, for example, as to the experience of one’s increasing longing for
holiness as described in Whitney as “holy hunger.”[3] In short, the author’s
argument and scriptural details are confirmed by Christians’ own empirical details.
Thus, one absolutely agrees.
Three Personal Disciplines Requiring Refinement
d d d d d d d d d d It is hardly possible to avoid embarrassment here. But one supposes this
will always be the case (at least to some degree), as the enduring experience of
the Christian is a consciousness of the constant contrast between what one
desires to be in Christ and what one actually is (cf. Rom. 7:18-21). In this wise, I
am forced to concede that the discipline of prayer is at the top of my list. It is not
merely a matter of the development of a deeper “prayer life” (as it is commonly
called) but the more attentive consistency that it requires. Second to this is,
perhaps, fasting. Simply, those things most connected to pleasure are often the
most difficult from which to part (even for a brief time). Plus, all Southerners love
to eat. Still, what is at stake here is entirely more serious than that.
Essentially, this points to the same underlying and enduring cause of not only the
foregoing problem but the one that follows—what Whitney entitles “silence and
solitude.”[4] What is oddest about this for me is that I live alone! Hence, the issue
is not the prevalence of my unavoidable solitude and silence but allowing its use
by the Spirit for my further development in Christ. In short, I have it, but I do not
necessarily use it—at least not for His purposes.
Finally, the solution for all these issues I find to be identical. That solution is the
“perseverance” of which Whitney speaks in his final chapter. Again—it is not a
complicated matter. But then, this is the reason for the use of the term,
“disciplines.” One must push to persevere in these until they become habitual.
According to Whitney (and Scripture), they not only become second nature with
growth but the desire to involve the things of the Lord in one’s life increases. As
he puts it, “Wherever the Holy Spirit dwells, His holy presence creates a hunger
for holiness.”[5] Indeed.
Bibliography
Whitney, Donald S. Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. Colorado Springs:
NavPress, 2014.
[1] Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (Colorado Springs:
NavPress, 2014), 9.
[2] Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life.
[3] Ibid., 3.
[4] Whitney, Ch. 10. d
[5] Ibid., 290.
