discipline brings freedom

today, as i was driving to town, about to turn left down a familiar stretch of road, i looked both ways several times before i pulled out, continuing to search the lanes for oncoming traffic even as i turned. basic driving discipline, right? when i was learning to drive, i remember that specific turn being a major cause of discussments between my father and me — i’d forget to look right, or i’d just look once each way and be done with it, and, when i got a little (but not much) wiser, i’d turn my head back and forth lots of times just so my father would see that i was going through the motions. i wanted him to see my performance of the task so that i could go on peacefully without any grief.  i was doing what i was supposed to, but it was in vain.  i had missed the point.

several years and a wreck or two later, i look both ways before i turn out because i know it is imperative. if i don’t look for oncoming cars or if i look without seeing, i am putting myself at high risk. now, i see the value behind the discipline.

spiritual disciplines have, for me, developed in the same way. i once read scripture and prayed because i know that i should. i knew reading and talking to the Lord were things that Christians do, but, as i did with looking both ways before i pulled my car out, i had missed the point severely. i didn’t want the guilt of not going through the motions, so i’d do it to appease the Lord.

how absurd! appease the Lord with an empty, heartless offering!?

the Lord speaks through Isaiah to the sons of Judah (Isaiah 1):

when you come to appear before me,
who has required of you
this trampling of my courts?

bring no more vain offerings;
incense is an abomination to me.
new moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations –
i cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.

your new moons and your appointed feasts
my soul hates.
they have become a burden to me
i am weary of bearing them.

our solemn, heartless rituals do not please the Lord.  in fact, he despises them.  he despises anything that gets in the way of Him taking posession of our full hearts.  He didn’t tell us to hide his word in our hearts, to pray without ceasing, to present all things before Him just so He could make us feel guilty when we don’t perform.  no, He commands these things of us because these things ultimately bring about our good and His glory.  the pursuit of these things is the pursuit of that which is truly life.

Isaiah goes on to say:

wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;
cease to do evil;
learn to do good;
seek justice;
correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless;
plead the widow’s cause.

rather than offer the Lord a 30 minute block of our busy days to get Him out of the way, may we humble ourselves and offer Him our entire hearts and lives that He may have His way for His glory. may He infect all we do with purpose and with the intention of becoming more and more like His Son.