The Selfless Way of Christ
A Self-Emptied Heart: The Discipline of Spiritual Formation
The Discipline of the Book, Heart + Conclusion
Pages 76-93
Mathew 26:36-46 (NIV) Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.” When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing. Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”
“Reading the Scriptures is essential for anyone who wants to follow Christ on the road of downward mobility. Although church presents us with God’s Word each day, we also need to listen to that Word in the intimacy of our own home and let it speak to the most hidden corners of our being.”
What do you find are some of the biggest hurdles that keep you from a deeper engagement with the Scriptures?
“By the Word of God we are formed into living Christs, and this formation goes far beyond information, instruction, edification, or inspiration. This formation requires eating the Word, chewing on it, digesting it, and thus letting it become true nourishment. Thus the Word descends from our minds into our hearts and there finds a dwelling place.”
What is your response to this statement? Do you agree?
“The discipline of the heart is probably the discipline we give up most easily. Entering into the solitude of our closet and standing there in the presence of our God with nothing but our own nakedness, vulnerability, and sinfulness, requires an intense commitment to the spiritual life.”
What does this mean? What is your response? Does it make you feel uncomfortable, convicted, free, or a mixture?
“The discipline of the heart has its own special difficulties. There is the temptation to start hoping for personal revelations and sensations. There is the problem of not knowing if we hear God or just our own restlessness. There is the question of how to discern the direction in which the Spirit moves us. But before and above all these special difficulties, there is the simple difficulty of being faithful to the discipline itself.”
Have you struggled with not knowing if you are hearing from God or just your own restlessness? What does that look like? Do you have examples? Does discipline naturally come easily or hard for you?