When it comes to the Christian life, it is important for Christians to follow
certain rules or disciplines. Whitney believes, Christianity breeds a sense
of freedoms not granted by anything else. These freedoms can be
witnessed by an individual mastering discipline[1]. As such, to be
Christian, one must learn to master spiritual disciples to truly live a
Christian life. As the main argument within the text, I would have to say I
agree with Whitney. Far too many self-proclaimed Christians can call
themselves one because their Christianity is seldomly challenged. Most
feel, it is not their place to judge therefore, if someone claims to be a
Christian, they must be a Christian. As the body of Christ, we tend to
ignore the fact, there are those who claim Christianity for cultural
purposes and accept them into the fold simply because of their words. We
ignore the fact that Christianity is more than just proclaiming Jesus to be
Lord and savior.
It is arguable that this is a reason we have issues with our churches in the
contemporary age. Instead of learning Christian disciplines and living a life
worthy of righteousness, we pick and choose what we find acceptable,
and we persecute everything else that we hate. As a replacement for
focusing on Christian disciplines, we would much rather concentrate on
things that make us comfortable like increasing our church membership
numbers, rather than what makes us better Christians.
It is important to note, Christianity is a goal that continuously evolves.
None of us should claim completion of this journey as we should be
getting better until the day we die. As I continue to work on myself, I
believe I need to focus on the following three disciplines: Fasting,
silence/solitude, and Journaling. When it comes to fasting, this is
something I have struggled with from when I was a young child. I have
always enjoyed food and struggled with turning down my plate. I
understand that fasting should occur according to biblical teaching with a
purpose of being God centered but it is not something I would consider
easy[2]. This does not mean I do not fast; I am just saying, I need to
consciously do it more. To partake in fasting, I will begin scheduling
fasting sessions and track my progress. The next discipline I need to work
on is silence and solitude. I do a great job of isolating myself for the
purpose says of wanting to be alone but not necessarily for the purpose of
Godliness. I will begin using my alone time to meditate on the word and
gain a better understanding of God's word[3]. Lastly, I need to work on
journaling. I personally do not journal or write anything outside of work in
school. I tend to avoid writing and I have never been a fan of journaling
altogether. After reading Whitney’s book, I am beginning to see the
importance of journaling. I rely heavily on memory (which is not that
good) to remember the good works of God. Being that my memory is not
the greatest, I sometimes struggle with categorizing God's work in my life.
This means, I am potentially missing out on fully understanding God's
impact all my life[4]. This is one of the easier things to implement in my
life because I can start today. I will begin reviewing my days and
highlighting God's work. At the end of the week, I will begin reviewing and
