The start of a new year is often a time for making resolutions to improve certain aspects of our life: exercise more, spend less, eat better, and so forth. Often, Christians make similar resolutions regarding their spiritual lives and practices too: Read Scripture, pray often, give faithfully, etc. One of the challenges that everyone making such resolutions faces is the experience of past failures and broken promises. Breaking resolutions is so common that some ad agencies make it the theme of their commercials for fitness trackers and gym memberships. Exploring all of the reasons why we fail to keep our resolutions would take a while. In this short article, I want to narrow my focus to the spiritual life and suggest several things you and I need to grow in as more faithful practitioners of spiritual disciplines this year.

A Right Perspective on Spiritual Disciplines

Sometimes, we can confuse means for ends, focusing on the practice rather than its purpose. I really enjoy time outdoors: camping, hunting, fishing, and sitting by a fire pit. Thousands of other people enjoy these activities, and hundreds of them have YouTube channels. I can easily spend hours “researching” the best way to start a campfire or the optimal way to keep your plastic water bottle from freezing when hiking at night in the winter (carry it upside down, apparently), and while such knowledge is interesting, if I spend most of my time learning about camping, but rarely sleep in the woods, then I have probably confused the means for the end. We can experience similar confusion in our practice of the spiritual disciplines as well.

Although there is a legitimate place for academic study of the spiritual disciplines, it is more urgent that we practice them and practice them for the right reasons. While I am fascinated and encouraged to know that Cotton Mather (1663–1728), the New England Congregationalist pastor-theologian, typically read sixteen chapters of the Bible in Hebrew or Greek nearly every day, or that pastors in the ancient church, like Ambrose of Milan (340–397), tended to read out loud rather than silently, such knowledge is of secondary importance to reading the Bible for myself, and reading it to grow in communion with God. Knowing that and how other Christians have practiced the disciplines has a place in our own discipleship, but it is not the end of truly Christian scholarship or devotion. Such knowledge gives our discipleship (and disciple-making) depth and continuity. Seeing that other believers have been transformed by their practice of the disciplines is a means to encourage me to pursue similar transformation through the same disciplines; knowing how they approached such practices can give me guidance on how I might go about the same activities. It is also important to maintain a right perspective on why we undertake them.

Spiritual disciplines like fasting, meditating on Scripture, praying, almsgiving, and other practices are transformative activities through which the Holy Spirit changes believers. They are gospel-responsive exercises in counter-formation, undoing the sinful desires that characterized us as unbelievers and the self-focused bend of our hearts and conforming us to the image of Jesus. Practicing spiritual disciplines reminds us that “you are not your own, for you were brought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Cor 6:19–20). It is a way that believers “present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Rom 12:1). Disciplines provide one way to “present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments of righteousness” (Rom 6:13). They continually remind us that our goal is being “conformed to the image of [God’s] Son” (Rom 8:29). Spiritual disciplines are responses to the love of God in Christ, not the conditions by which he loves or accepts us.

A Growing Dependence upon the Holy Spirit

If the disciplines are transformative activities through which the Holy Spirit changes believers, we undertake the practices, but the Spirit brings change. Paul communicates this perspective using a farming metaphor in 1 Corinthians 3:5–7: “What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.” Here, Paul recounts the activities of evangelizing and discipling that he and Apollos undertook but recognizes that their visible labor, while necessary, is insufficient to produce inward spiritual change. “God gave the growth.” How might this idea relate to spiritual disciplines? Second Corinthians 3:17–18 helps answer this question, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

Here, as believers “behold” the glory of the Lord, inward transformation is occurring (notice the use of the passive voice “are being transformed”). How did the Corinthians “behold” the Lord’s glory? While it is possible some from Corinth may have been among the 500 to whom Jesus appeared between his resurrection and ascension (cf. 1 Cor 15:6), it seems more likely that they, like us, saw Jesus’s glory through the apostolic preaching of the cross, the same message we now read in the pages of Scripture. Note again Paul’s emphasis that believers experience genuine internal transformation (and again the passive construction “are being transformed”) via the work of the Holy Spirit. Believers are “beholding” and being transformed, but the real change we experience comes from the Holy Spirit.

Unlike bodily discipline (cf. 1 Tim 4:8), such as diet and exercise, where our activity is directly involved in physical change, spiritual disciplines are under our control, but their effect is not. As we become aware that it is the Spirit who brings change, we should increasingly long for, pray for, and depend on his presence, a dependence that brings humility and motivates our practice.

Meaningful Membership in a Local Church

The disciplines are not only personal but also corporate (I prefer “congregational”). As we grow as faithful practitioners, one dimension of our practice is recognizing how the disciplines prepare us for life together with other believers. Have you ever asked yourself, “Why am I fasting right now?” or “Why am I meditating on Scripture this evening?” and answered, “For the benefit of my fellow church members”? A man once indicated to me that he awoke early every Sunday morning and read his Bible so that his heart would be ready to serve others in a particular church ministry later that morning. What a beautiful thought! My practice of the disciplines is not only for me and my personal communion with God but also for the benefit of other Christians, especially church members.

Many believers have occasion to be around other Christians who are not church members. One of my sons is part of a ministry that takes us on outdoor adventures. This is a distinctly Christian ministry, and being around other Christian fathers and students is indeed a helpful experience of being taught and discipled, but in a different and more distant way from the regular gathering of our local church. Yet, it is possible to be part of a church and remain distant. To attend but have no meaningful sense of connection. To observe but not to participate.

I often tell students that congregationalism is more than a political mechanism. What I mean is, being part of a congregation does not simply mean that we vote on decisions, but rather that each member of a church has a growing sense of being connected to others, a sense of responsibility for the spiritual well-being of others, and a developing perspective of practicing various ways of living through which the Spirit transforms others who in turn use their spiritual gifts to serve us even as we yield ourselves to certain ways of living that move us to serve and bless them. This is a situation where a right perspective on the spiritual disciplines can be a catalyst for transforming us from a passive consumer of church to an active servant. As we come to reflect deeply on a passage like Romans 12:1, we come to see that “present[ing] your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” encompasses the way we approach involvement in church as well as our daily lives. Why do I serve in a particular ministry? Because I am presenting my body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. Why do I take time to talk to other church members and ask them about their lives? Because I am presenting my body as a living sacrifice. Why might a person take time to counsel or disciple others, pray with them and for them, make and deliver meals, drive them to medical appointments, babysit their children, and more? Because in doing so, they are presenting their bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.

Personal and Interpersonal Accountability

Alongside meaningful church membership, developing accountability to ourselves and to others is a way of becoming a more faithful practitioner of the spiritual disciplines. While many evangelicals are familiar with the concept of an “Accountability Partner” or an “Accountability Group,” being familiar and being connected are clearly different.

Personal accountability often begins with a plan for how you will be intentional in your practices. A simple plan might answer the question of when, where, and what you will do to practice various disciplines. Accountability also includes writing (or typing) this plan somewhere rather than leaving it only in your mind. Deciding “when” you can best pursue spiritual practices means considering your current life responsibilities and choosing times when you can be focused on spiritual activities. Considering “where” you might pursue spiritual disciplines ensures that you have considered a location where you can be least distracted and most focused. Asking “what” means making a plan for how you will spend your time: What part of the Bible will you read? Is there a particular portion of Scripture you intend to memorize? Are there certain people and situations about which you want to pray? Sometimes personal accountability means setting longer-term goals and tracking your progress: Do you want to memorize 1 John? How is that coming along? How many gospel-focused conversations do you want to have this week? How many have you initiated?

Interpersonal accountability might take many different forms. I remember a particularly strong cohort of doctoral students who each wanted to help their churches deepen discipleship and disciplines. One student proposed a one-on-one mentoring approach, another focused on groups of 3–4 believers, while a third strategized about training a dozen disciple-makers and having them lead small groups. Each described their plan as “biblical” and was convinced that their model was the exclusive way to accomplish their purpose. It was not until they sat together and talked that they realized they had each been missing other approaches that could be supported by Scripture.

I am convinced that accountability between members of the same church is part of God’s design for caring for “one another.” Finding a fellow church member, or group of members, who will walk with you for a season to encourage and, as necessary, offer correction, as it relates to your practice of various disciplines, is a blessing. Being willing to walk with another Christian and making yourself available is part of meaningful congregationalism. Sometimes, though, in God’s providence, we find ourselves away from our local church for a period of time. In those seasons, finding another mature Christian to walk with us and help us pursue intentional spiritual practices is fitting and should not be looked down upon. In my para-church role as a seminary professor, I have many occasions to shepherd students whom I see only occasionally and to seek spiritual encouragement from colleagues who are members of other churches.

A Disposition to “Redeem the Time”

One of the best-selling devotional books of the 17th Century was Lewis Bayley’s The Practice of Piety. In some editions, there is a frontispiece with a picture of a winged hourglass atop a human skull and the phrase “Redeem the Time” below it. The artwork is not beautiful, but its point is profound: Time is fleeting, and our end is approaching. How will we use our time? The picture and its message come from the King James Version of Ephesians 5:15–16: “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” Wise Christians make the best use of time, which includes those habits that affect our Christian walk. Having a disposition to “redeem the time,” as it relates to spiritual disciplines, means considering how we order our days and weeks to include various disciplines and also seeking ways to redeem “wasted” time for spiritual purposes.

Many Christians have been taught to begin their days with a “quiet time” of Bible reading, meditation, and prayer. This practice has much to commend. Beginning one’s day with an intentional focus on God’s Word often helps remind us of what God says and how God works in the world in which we will spend the rest of our day immersed. Other Christians find ways to redeem the time by keeping a physical or digital Bible near them and choosing to read, meditate, and pray over parts of it during downtimes in their daily schedule. Still others set reminders to stop and pray throughout their day, use their commute to and from work to practice Bible memory, self-examination through journaling, or something similar. They teach themselves the discipline of redeeming the time rather than passively scrolling through social media posts or news stories. Redeeming the time is a mindset, a new disposition, to pay attention to spare moments during our day and reclaim them for intentionally spiritual purposes.