Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth
“The greatest problems of our time are not technological,
for these we handle fairly well. They are not even political or economic,
because the difficulties in these areas, glaring as they may be, are largely
derivative. The greatest problems are moral and spiritual, and unless we can
make some progress in these realms, we may not even survive.”
So writes D. Elton Trueblood in his foreword to Celebration of Discipline: The Path to
Spiritual Growth. This blessed book, written by Richard J. Foster, has been
used since its initial printing in 1978, to deepen the interior lives of countless
individuals, nurturing them toward more abundant living.
“Superficiality is the curse of our age,” Foster asserts. “The
doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem. The desperate
need today is…for deep people.”
The classic Disciplines, or central spiritual practices, of
the Christian faith allow us to place ourselves before God so that He can
transform us. Dividing the Disciplines into three movements of the Spirit,
Foster shows how each of these areas contributes to a balanced spiritual life.
The inward disciplines of meditation, prayer, fasting, and study offer avenues
of personal examination and change. The outward Disciplines of simplicity,
solitude, submission, and service help prepare us to make the world a better
place. The corporate Disciplines of confession, worship, guidance and
celebration bring us nearer to one another and to God.
Foster asks us to “picture a long, narrow ridge with a sheer
drop-off on either side. The chasm to the right is the way of moral bankruptcy
through human strivings for righteousness. Historically this has been called
the heresy of moralism. The chasm to the left is moral bankruptcy through the
absence of human strivings. This has been called the heresy of antinomianism.
On the ridge there is a path, the Disciplines of the spiritual life…[T]he path
does not produce the change; it only places us where the change can occur. This
is the path of disciplined grace…[and] our world is hungry for genuinely changed
people. Leo Tolstoy observes, ‘Everybody thinks of changing humanity and nobody
thinks of changing himself.’ Let us be among those who believe that the inner
transformation of our lives is a goal worthy of our best effort.”
If you are feeling spiritually dry, if you have tired of
superficiality, if you are hungering for a more abundant life, I recommend you
carve out some time to spend with Celebration
of Discipline. I have used this book in many classes on spiritual growth
and have seen astonishing transformations in those who have devoted themselves
to the principles set forth within.
