In the same way that life disciplines are essential to our health, growth, and maturity, so spiritual disciplines are essential to our spiritual health, growth, and maturity. Life with God is one of daily habits and choices that not only shape us but direct us.
We might think of spiritual disciplines, like daily prayer, fasting, Bible reading and meditation, as means by which we grow strong and impressive spiritually. We want to be capable of doing the heavy lifting for God and succeeding at great things. We want to be on the inside and entrusted with the critical assignments. We want to be influential and responsible for impacting the lives of many.
That’s all fine, I’m sure. But we tend to rush ahead and skip a critical step: becoming spiritually strong is impossible without first having good spiritual form. Form over strength, every time.
Someone who is seeking to get stronger can’t and shouldn’t begin by lifting as much weight as they possibly can. They run the risk of severe damage and injuring themselves. Rather than doing as much as they can, they must first learn to do as little as it takes. They must begin by learning and practicing proper physical form.
And someone who is incredibly strong and capable of doing much must still never forget about, but always be mindful of, their form and the little things that make what they do possible.
Spiritual strength comes as a result of working on spiritual form. Working on your spiritual form, though, takes an enormous amount of patience, time, energy, and, especially, humility. No one enjoys showing their weakness. No one likes to be embarrassed, to fail at something, to try something repeatedly, or to admit that they don’t know what to do or how to do something.
But it’s here, in the forming and form of our attitudes, thoughts, and desires that we establish and maintain what we will need for spiritual endurance and strength. We must always be willing to stop and do as little as it takes before rushing forward or moving on to do as much as we want or can.