Foreword to the Special Anniversary Edition
Foreword to the Special Anniversary Edition
If you are anything like me, you genuinely long for abilities that are beyond yourself in order to face the demands of everyday life patiently and wisely. You—I—we—would love to have the inner resources to replace deep, destructive habits of thought with even deeper, life-giving habits of mind and heart and spirit. In our best moments (we do have other moments), we seek the ability to overcome guile and manipulation. We genuinely want to be free of all anger and bitterness and strife. We desire to possess the unadulterated goodness that will enable us to defeat evil whenever and wherever it appears. We long for the deep character formation that can free us from all boasting and arrogance, all narcissism and conceit.
We seek fulfillment in serving others. We yearn for the inner courage to forgive others, even our enemies—especially our enemies. We long for a spirit of repentance and the strength to live a transformed life. We hunger for an ongoing, life-giving, interactive relationship with Jesus. We want to be characterized through and through with the joy of the Lord. And we seek after all of these things not as some outward show but as the deep transformation of the inner person.
If in some measure these longings reflect the hopes and dreams and aspirations of your heart, then I have wonderful news for you. Throughout the ages, Christians of all races and ethnicities from all geographic locations and economic backgrounds have witnessed that the classical Disciplines of the spiritual life can produce deep within us exactly this kind of life. The Spiritual Disciplines are the means of God’s grace for bringing about genuine personality formation characterized through and through by love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control (Gal. 5:22–23).
Now, we might want to sit for a moment with the thought that we have this unique capacity for moral development. I mean substantial character formation and transformation. Think of it. God could have created the human species into granite boulders or red radishes—merely minerals and vegetables. But instead God has given us the capacity for developing moral character, the ability to become glorious beings that can live in communion with the Triune Reality of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for eternity.
This is a great risk on God’s part. The moral development of personality is possible only in a world of genuine freedom. And for us to have the freedom to grow in moral character also means we have the freedom to choose moral evil . . . at times horrendous moral evil. So, for us to develop and grow in moral character is God’s great project for human beings. This is the gamble God has made with the human enterprise. And what God gets out of this gamble is the kind of person we become.
So, how does the moral transformation of mind and heart and soul occur? What are God’s ways for this to happen in your life and in my life?
The Spiritual Disciplines are God’s means of grace by which we are enabled to bring our little, individualized power pack we call the human body and place it before God as a “living sacrifice,” as the wise apostle Paul put it (Rom. 12:1). Having done this, the Disciplines have reached the end of their tether. God then steps into our small offering and produces in us graces and virtues we could hardly imagine. Again, the Spiritual Disciplines are the means God uses to build in us an inner person that is characterized by peace and joy and freedom.
It is critical for us to understand that the Spiritual Disciplines possess no moral rectitude or righteousness in and of themselves. They are, most definitely, not “works righteousness,” as it is sometimes said. They place us—body, mind, and spirit—before God. That is all. The results of this process are all of God, all of grace.
Now, the opposite of grace is “works.” Works has to do with earning, and there simply is nothing we can ever do to earn God’s approval. Or God’s love.
Again, the opposite of grace is works—but not effort. As Jesus taught us, we are to strive to “enter by the narrow gate” (Matt. 7:13). We do indeed engage in practices—disciplines, if you will—but remember these practices earn us nothing in the economy of God. Nothing. Their only purpose is to place us before God. That is all. (And even these actions are themselves inspired by the prevenient grace of God.) God then steps into our actions and, over time and experience, produces in us the formation of heart and mind and soul for which we long. Again, the results are all of grace.
This is why the apostle Peter in his small epistle could urge us to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18). You see, our normal way of thinking about grace is as “unmerited favor.” And, to be sure, grace is most certainly unmerited favor—but it is so much more than this! Simply put, we are not able to “grow” in unmerited favor. Now, with the Spiritual Disciplines, the form that God’s grace takes is interactive relationship. God invites us into a variety of Spiritual Disciplines, and we step into them as best we can. These actions place us before God as a living sacrifice. God, in turn, uses our actions to build within us deeply ingrained habit patterns of “righteous and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17). Back and forth, back and forth, in interactive relationship so that, through time and experience, we are learning to “grow in grace.”
Once more, the Spiritual Disciplines are the means God uses for producing in us the needed transformation of heart and mind and soul.
Remember, God is working, always working, to form us and conform us and transform us into the image of Christ. God is intent upon this forming, conforming, transforming process. And God invites us to participate in this process by means of interactive relationship.
Now, this deep character formation in the subterranean chambers of our hearts does not occur overnight. This is no quick fix. It is crucial here for us to respect the slow work of God upon the soul. Slowly, ever so slowly, over days and weeks and months and years, the soul is being carefully formed and conformed and transformed. Throughout this holy work we are learning patience, stillness, perseverance, “time-fullness.”
Of course, throughout this liberating process we are carrying on the daily tasks of home and work. Indeed, these places comprise the central arena where the work of formation occurs.
Now, I do not have any exhaustive list of the Spiritual Disciplines. As far as I know, none exists. All we are learning to do is undertake practices of heart and mind and soul that place us before God. Some practices may be formal and intently liturgical. Others may be spontaneous and free flowing. The actual practices of the Disciplines are as varied and as creative as human personality itself.
But, and here is the key, the Spiritual Disciplines are actions of body and heart and mind and soul that we actually do. Not just admire. Not just study. Not just debate. But practice.
As I said, our practices can have enormous variety. One thing, however, will always be central to our exercise of the Spiritual Disciplines—Holy Scripture. Reading Scripture. Studying Scripture. Meditating upon Scripture. Memorizing Scripture.
If we truly desire to be like Jesus, then we will want to take up the overall way of life Jesus himself lived when he was among us in the flesh. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John give us this picture in vibrant, living Reality! We learn from the Gospels that Jesus undertook Spiritual Disciplines as a fixed pattern of his life. So should we. And, as we give attention to the whole trajectory of Scripture, we quickly discover that all the great ones in the Bible exercised a large variety of Spiritual Disciplines themselves. Surely this is an incentive for us to follow the lead of our leaders.
Two distinct movements mark the Spiritual Disciplines: the via negativa and the via positiva. The via negativa focuses on ascetical Disciplines like meditation, fasting, simplicity, solitude, submission, and confession. These teach us life-giving ways of self-denial and letting go. The via positiva focuses on incarnational Disciplines like prayer, study, service, worship, guidance, and celebration. These teach us life-giving ways of growth and affirmation. Together these two movements are aimed at freeing us from soul-crushing patterns of death and creating joy-filled patterns of life. Take, for example, the Discipline of fasting, which focuses on disciplining our desires (the via negativa) and so creating deep within us a spirit that is strong and sweet when we don’t get what we want (the via positiva).
One more thing: this way of living is not confined to people in religious orders or those who have special skills in spiritual matters. No, this life is also for ordinary people. People who work in the high-pressure jobs of information technology and finance. People who are constantly dealing with the stresses of raising children and balancing the family budget. People who teach school and work in hospitals and provide social services and so much more. In short, people just like you and me.
Now, this interior focus on the growth of the soul does have its detractors. After all, a thousand tragedies cry out for our responses. Sorrows abound. Human agonies multiply. So those on the outside can easily see time and attention to the Spiritual Disciplines and the life they produce as pious selfishness. Their concern is that by focusing on inward matters, we will neglect outward needs.
Such concern, however, fails to understand the full thrust of the Spiritual Disciplines themselves. Deeply embedded in their exercise is the impulse toward what the old writers called “social righteousness.” You see, white-hot love of God of necessity drives us into compassionate love of neighbor. We only need to consider a person like Mother Teresa of Calcutta to see how love of God drives us to love of neighbor. In her context, this meant devoting her life to “the poorest of the poor.” For us, we cannot predict beyond the firm conviction that any genuine immersion in the Spiritual Disciplines will lead us to our neighbor, the person who is near to us. True godliness does not turn us away from hurting, bleeding humanity. Rather it enables us to live fully alive in the midst of human need and enlivens our abilities to bring a healing presence to the bruised and broken around us.
I’m sure you understand that these efforts are best done in the context of community life. These are not solo efforts. We need each other. We depend upon each other. We learn together. We suffer together. We weep together. We pray together. We laugh together.
Richard J. Foster