Starting: A Spiritual Discipline?
Just start right where you are.
The Lord moved me in a conversation with a friend, who we will call Captain Joe. He is currently in the Air Force, and he doesn’t get to land in a place and stay for too long. (No pun intended.) As he traveled, doing his job, he longed to connect to a Bible-believing Church. And it was the one thing that he thought just wasn’t possible. Thank God, a relationship with Jesus is not limited to the walls of our churches or unobtainable while serving in the military.
The biggest blessing to Captain Joe was meeting his new Chaplain. The first thing he did was to give Joe a Bible and daily devotional. All of a sudden, Joe had the means to connect with God on a daily basis. Captain Joe started “today”! He wasted no time. Joe began a consistent spiritual discipline of STARTING his day with a simple devotional of 5-10 minutes a day. With all the important things on his plate day to day, Captain Joe says, “The most important part of my day is starting in the scriptures, even if it’s at 2 a.m.!”
We are the ones who create a bigger idea of what this spiritual discipline is supposed to look like. Not Jesus. We make it too lofty and legalistic at times. It’s too complicated and liturgical in our minds. Jesus invites us to something much simpler. So begin with a devotional and start with the first five minutes of your day. Give that to the Lord, and let it become a daily spiritual discipline in your life. It will become the most important part of your day, just like Captain Joe!
I love considering “starting” something as a spiritual discipline. Too often in my own life, I think about something, overthink it, talk myself out of it, and simply delay things that I believe God wants to do in my life. Pastor Jason has said before, don’t pray how you think you should pray; just start right where you are. Don’t study your Bible as you think you should (especially if you are comparing yourself to someone who has followed Jesus for a long time). Just start right where you are. We often make it too complicated and then give up on it. Let’s not be people who habitually put off the spiritual disciplines or talk ourselves out of it. Let’s be a people who start right where we are, trusting God every little step of the way. Just start, and start today!
