When God created the world, He created it without sin. However, the prefect beauty of the world was soon corrupted by sin. In response to this, God reacted with grace and mercy, and invited us into relationship with Him. In order to maintain relationship with Him, Christians exercise spiritual discipline. These disciplines, inward, outward, and corporate, reflect our desire to commune with God and demonstrate our need for Him as our savior. In his book Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster (1998) states that “the purpose of the Disciplines is liberation from . . . fear” (p. 2). Thus, the disciplines outlined for Christian life were created in order to improve our internal, spiritual lives, not to restrict our freedom or individuality.
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One of the way this change manifests itself is in our outward behavior and words. God calls us to be servants, and Jesus Himself acted as a servant while on earth. Foster (1998) calls this “Revolutionary Subordination” (p. 115), and he says that revolutionary subordination frees us to “lay down the terrible burden of always needing to get our own way” (p. 111). In doing this, we are able to participate in true and pure fellowship with the people around us. Foster (1998) gives several characteristics of true service, and, in my opinion, the most important one is that “true service is free of the need to calculate results” (p. 129). This statement is, I think, one of the most convicting statements because it addresses such a large range of the fall of humanity. The “need to calculate results” is at the heart of the human condition. Sin brought greed, jealousy, dissatisfaction, and spiritual hunger into the world. All of these drive us to “calculate results,” and we often use these results to determine our personal and corporate …show more content…
I believe that this reflection may be part of the answer to those sins, and I believe that this book may help some Christians to develop a deeper relationship with God. However, I find his writing dogmatic and dismissive of society. His message seems to discredit all aspects of humanity, and I do not feel that his book acknowledges the fact the parts of the world are still good. I think that his concept of exacting discipline in our spiritual lives is good advice, but I do not completely agree with his delivery of the information. However, despite my objections, I believe that this book may be a useful tool for Christians on their walk with
One of the way this change manifests itself is in our outward behavior and words. God calls us to be servants, and Jesus Himself acted as a servant while on earth. Foster (1998) calls this “Revolutionary Subordination” (p. 115), and he says that revolutionary subordination frees us to “lay down the terrible burden of always needing to get our own way” (p. 111). In doing this, we are able to participate in true and pure fellowship with the people around us. Foster (1998) gives several characteristics of true service, and, in my opinion, the most important one is that “true service is free of the need to calculate results” (p. 129). This statement is, I think, one of the most convicting statements because it addresses such a large range of the fall of humanity. The “need to calculate results” is at the heart of the human condition. Sin brought greed, jealousy, dissatisfaction, and spiritual hunger into the world. All of these drive us to “calculate results,” and we often use these results to determine our personal and corporate …show more content…
I believe that this reflection may be part of the answer to those sins, and I believe that this book may help some Christians to develop a deeper relationship with God. However, I find his writing dogmatic and dismissive of society. His message seems to discredit all aspects of humanity, and I do not feel that his book acknowledges the fact the parts of the world are still good. I think that his concept of exacting discipline in our spiritual lives is good advice, but I do not completely agree with his delivery of the information. However, despite my objections, I believe that this book may be a useful tool for Christians on their walk with