We began the study by asking the question "What does Spiritual Discipline mean to you?" The answers that came up were: reading the Bible, prayer, doing devotions, and practicing patience and Godliness. Those are important because our witness to others depends on it, we are made in God's image so we should be holy, and they are our own lifelines.
When discussing what prevents us from pursuing such disciplines we all agreed that we come up with excuses of "too busy," perfectionism, not prioritizing, lack of self control, it's uncomfortable, we don't think we are "that kind of a person," etc. Basically, it all came down to sin. However, we also agreed that when we are not exercising disciplines our lives feel chaotic, unorganized, and restless. The only major cost of being more disciplined is that we'll no longer get whatever we want, whenever we want it.
Next we moved on to discuss some of the differences between true disciplines and legalism. We noted that doing devotions legalistically can lead to feeling like a robot, focusing on self instead of God, and being frustrated and angry with interruptions. The book had a beautiful quote that we encouraged everyone to remember.
The legalistic heart says, "I will do this thing to gain merit with God." The disciplined heart says, "I will do this because I love God and want to please Him."1
The John Wesley quote in the book was also a great visual of disciplines done out of a true relationship with God--all for His honor and glory. We ended noting how submission has fallen on hard times and realizing we were out of time, we determined to go over "The Two Ways To Live" section at the following meeting.
1. Barbara Hughes, Disciplines of a Godly Woman (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2001), p. 14.
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