#WednesdayReview - Celebration of Discipline (Foster)

Last Saturday, I had a chance to catch up with a dear brother of mine, JR Woodward, for coffee. As we sat there talking about some of our favorite books we decided to start a new feature, via blog and twitter, called #WednesdayReview. I had one particular book in mind originally but, this morning, God put another book on my heart as I was reading through 1 Corinthians 9, here's what I read:

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. (vv. 24-27)

With this, God reminded me of Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster. This book is an absolute classic on the spiritual disciplines and a must read for every serious Christ follower. In a surprisingly ease-to-read manner, Foster lays out some of the most foundational spiritual practices in a compelling and practical way. His chapters on Prayer and Fasting, were so influential in my walk and his chapter on Simplicity absolutely changed my life. Its a fairly quick read but I actually recommend downloading the audio version and listening to it while you run or on a long car ride (its only 3 hours long).

The passage I read this morning and Foster's classic both remind me that, in life, there is no such thing as stasis. It's been said many times before that you can either grow or atrophy, which is very true of your spirituality. Our spiritual fitness is not something we can neglect one day and then count on the next - it must always be before us as a priority.

If this feature was helpful to you, please feel free to (1) check out Celebration of Disciplines (2) retweet or link to my review and (3) take part in #WednesdayReview and recommend one of your favorite books!

What's our standard for worship?

Last night my friends and I were at a concert featuring Matt Nathanson and Jack's Mannequin which was absolutely incredible. Beyond just being good music, both of these bands were incredible live because of the emotion with which they played their music. To watch these guys on stage was to see true artists totally unleashed. Poets of any age have the most incredible ability to tap into emotion in a way that's infectious to their listeners.

A very simple thought occurred to me during the concert but its one I want to meditate on for a while. In the Church, do we mistake excellence for true passion when it comes to our worship - musical or otherwise? So much focus these days seems to be on the production value of our church product that excellence can subtly become a means to its own end.

I spent some time this morning reflecting on the widow's offering in Luke 21 and Jesus' observations on who gave the most. Somehow with any form of worship, its not the show that God is concerned with the but the heart. If you need any further verification you can pretty much read any verse in Isaiah.

The Church today is suffering because its lost its heart in so many ways. Strip off the all the halos and flowing garments and God ends up looking like a pretty ordinary Galilean; a nondescript rabbi that has mesmerized the world for 2,000 years because of His heart and passion - our worship of Him should be no different. Where excellence and passion intersect, its an incredible gift. But if given a choice of one or the other, I'll take the latter every time.