4 Cautions with Spiritual Disciplines

Breaking Bread Podcast

Spiritual disciplines are ancient. Yet they are growing in popularity with our contemporary Christian culture. What are common cautions that should accompany our wise application of spiritual disciplines? In this episode of Breaking Bread, Isaac Funk helps us understand four cautions: legalism, agency, syncretism and mysticism.

Show Notes:

Spiritual disciplines are those practices we habitually do in the body that form us into Christlikeness. Reading the Word, silence, solitude, fasting, tithing, fellowship are just a few of many. Many spiritual disciplines are classic. Practices employed by Christ and faithful believers for thousands of years.

Understanding the “shadow” of a thing is important for wise and healthy use. We want to have this circumspect understanding of spiritual disciplines. Without it, we can fall into ditches that are unhelpful. Consider four trappings to be thoughtful about.

• Legalism: Legalism is an unhealthy relationship with performance. At its worst, dependence on performance erroneously replaces faith in Christ.
  • We need to remember the following…
    • Spiritual disciplines are not our morality.
    • Spiritual disciplines are not our performance.
    • Spiritual disciplines are not our forgiveness.
    • Spiritual disciplines do not secure merit with God.
• Agency: When employing spiritual disciplines, we can become confused with who is at the source of the effort. Is it us? Is it God?
  • We need to remember the following:
    • We do not control our spiritual growth; rather we make ourselves available to God through the practices to be formed by him.
    • God is the first source behind any practice.
• Syncretism: Syncretism is the blending or merging of different religious beliefs and practices. Many different religious faiths, as well as atheism, share bodily practices that on the outside look the same.
  • We need to remember the following:
    • Many bodily disciplines will benefit human beings regardless of walk of life or religious beliefs. However, these are not uniquely Christian unless we are employing them to grow in Christ likeness.
• Mysticism: By mysticism, we mean experiencing God in ways that transcend ordinary sensory perception and intellectual understanding. If applied unhealthily, the believer can develop errant ideas about God that are steeped in individual experience.
  • We need to remember the following:
    • Our discipleship experience with God should never contradict the Bible.
    • Be accountable to the larger Christian community. Include other people in your discipleship journey with Christ.