A habit more than a discipline

We are pleased to announce the release of my latest book: The Habit of Discipleship. Here is an excerpt:

We read of stories of disciplined athletes that get up early to torture their bodies. They drink slimy shakes and run till they throw up. Then they do it all again tomorrow. Somehow, we imagine that spiritual warriors are a little like that. They force themselves to do what they hate doing. Isn’t that Christian maturity at its pinnacle—doing consistently what you hate doing? John Ortberg mocks this kind of thinking:

You hear about someone who gets up at four o’clock in the morning to pray, and you feel guilty because you think you don’t pray enough. So you resolve to do that too, even though you are not a “morning person” — at four o’clock you are dazed and confused and groggy and grumpy, and no one wants to be around you at that time of the morning. Even Jesus doesn’t want to be around you at four in the morning. But you think, Well, this is exhausting and miserable — I certainly don’t like doing it — so it must be God’s will for my life. It must be spiritual.

Christian living at its best is when, “the things of earth grow strangely dim, In the light of His glory and grace.” Christian living is when the early alarm becomes a sweet hour of prayer. Christian living at its best is when I really do, “love to tell the story.”

There is a place for discipline, and discipline may be necessary for good habits to form. But, once they are formed, they become automatic. You don’t think about them. Disciples don’t think about whether or not to have a Quiet Time; this is just how they start their day. They have done it so consistently for so long that they don’t think about it. It is who they are. It is what they do. It is their normal.

Having a Quiet Time is either a habit, or I bet you didn’t have a Quiet Time this morning. If we think of discipline as forcing yourself to do something, a startling truth arises: discipline has a very small place in true Christian living. Habit is a huge part of Christian living.