January is typically a busy time of year for gyms and healthclubs. Many people start their new year with the resolution to get in shape, so they sign up at the local gym in hopes of keeping that resolution (I am included in this group of people). However, a few months into the year the gym seems to be a lot less crowded as one by one people begin to stop going and slip back into old routines and habits only to make the same resolution next January.

Friday the 13th rip

A lot of the time we approach the spiritual life the same way. We make resolutions to read the Bible more, pray more, go to church, be a good person, etc. But why is it that we so often feel like nothing changes? I think that a major part of the problem is similar to why our new year exercise goals fall to the wayside – we don’t make it a way of life.

The Spiritual Disciplines are like the exercises that we do at the gym, but if they are to truly make a difference than they can’t simply be extra things that we do on occasion. Just like regular visits to the gym must be accompanied by a healthy diet and other lifestyle changes, spiritual disciplines need to become a way of life.

I often do not feel like going to the gym, but I know that in order to see results I need to make it a habit and part of my way of life (that’s part of what makes it discipline). In the same way, if I only pray or meditate when I feel like it, there will be little difference in my life. But if the spiritual discipines and exercises become “habit” (not to be confused with dull routine, but something that is a regular part of my rhythm) that is when things start to happen!

So I encourage you, practice the various spiritual disciplines, but don’t simply do them as sporadic exercises but seek to make them a way of life. Incorporate them into the regular rhythm of your daily living. Practice them even when you don’t feel like it. Get a “training partner”, someone who will keep you moving when you feel like giving up. Make it a way of life and begin to truly experience life!

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