Eastertide
May 13, 2014

Now may the God of peace, who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, make you complete in everything good so that you may do his will, working among us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen. — Hebrews 13:20-21  

Yesterday we explored the goodness of God; today we are challenged with becoming complete in everything good ourselves.  I call it wholeness and it is important.

Wholeness through Christ starts with our acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Savior. It grows and builds through our strengthening of that relationship with the practice of spiritual disciplines.  While I have prayed and studied all my life, I was first introduced to the concept of spiritual disciplines as a group when I read Richard Fosters’ book, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth. I eventually completed training in spiritual direction through HeartPaths Spirituality Centre.* There are lots and lots of wonderful books to help anyone delve deeper into their spiritual development. But just like everything else in life, to grow into wholeness, completeness takes dedication of time and commitment to practicing the disciplines that is why they are called disciplines.

So what have you done for your spiritual growth and development lately? Have you set aside some time to commune with Jesus? Do you worship when you attend worship? Have you read the Bible recently and thought, “I have read that verse a hundred times and really never realized it said that?” Have you changed your patterns of living to match your new knowledge?

Besides our scripture reading for today, we all might want to read Psalm 139—maybe even memorize it. It is a spiritual discipline in and of itself.

Prayer: O Great Goodness, make me complete, make me whole. Amen.

* http://www.heartpathstraining.com/Home.html

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.