Introduction
In
order to achieve anything worthwhile in life, it requires discipline, and our
spiritual life is no different. Donald
S. Whitney has written a great volume to be added to the multitudes of works on
spiritual disciplines. In his work he has selected what he considers to be the
most important characteristics to live a valuable Christian life. Whitney has served in several different
capacities from being a pastor for nineteen years to serving as a professor a
Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. In this paper, I will attempt to give an
understanding of Whitney’s work, which reveals its strengths and weaknesses
while finding ways to make application to daily living.
Summary
Donald
S. Whitney has written a work that is perfect for a casual reader, it is not
inaccessible to the casual reader. Inside of these 250 pages, he covers
thirteen chapters dealing with eleven different disciplines. These disciplines range all the way from
Bible intake to learning and a range of things in between. What exactly does Whitney mean when he speaks
of spiritual disciplines? According to him they are “those personal and
corporate disciplines that promote spiritual growth.”[1]
The first discipline that he
covers in his work is Bible intake; he calls it Bible intake because he does
not limit to just reading the Bible but also listening to teaching. He says
that one of the greatest reasons for Bible intake is to know God more
intimately. [2]
While there are some people who will underestimate the value Scripture reading,
they could not be more misinformed because “A 1980 survey by Christianity Today
and the Gallup Poll supported this when it concluded that no factor is more
influential in shaping a person’s moral and social behavior than regular Bible
reading.” [3]
In
the second chapter he continues his views on Bible intake, but changes up some
of the approach; he focuses on memorization and meditation. On the topic of memorization he makes a very
valuable insight that should encourage us all to hide the word in our hearts.
He says, “…until the word is hidden in our heart, they aren’t available to use
with our mouth.”[4] In a
world of new age mysticism, when we hear the term meditation, we get a view of
someone on a mountaintop with their legs crossed and humming. Whitney argues
that “we shouldn’t discard or be afraid of scriptural meditation simply because
the world has adapted it for its own purposes.”[5]
He goes on to say, “While some advocate a kind of meditation in which you do
your best to empty your mind, Christian meditation involves filling your mind
with God and truth.”[6]
Chapter
three he ventures in to the waters of prayer and its role in our growth. In
this chapter he covers so much ground that it is hard to do it justice in
trying to summarize it all. He covers not only the positives of prayer, which
is often to be expected, but he goes head first in to some of the negative
outlooks people have about prayer. He lays out two different views we can take
when it comes to prayer, “We can be prayer pessimists and see the expectation
to pray merely as an obligation, or we can be optimists who view the command to
pray as an opportunity to receive the mercy and grace of God.”[7]Whitney
has a great formula for tying several different things together when he says,
“What we take in by the word we digest by meditation and let out by prayer.”[8]
There is so much that could be unpacked from this chapter, but we must move on
to chapter five.
In
this chapter Whitney attempts to define the ‘what’ of worship well, and what it
should look like. Ultimately, “To worship God is to ascribe the proper worth to
God, to magnify His worthiness of praise, or better, to approach and address
God as He is worthy.”[9]Some
would say that this defines the what of worship, but what about the how; the
how “is in Spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24) We often like to tell ourselves
that we are truly worshiping God when we aren’t we may just be worshiping
ourselves. Whitney says, “No matter how spiritual the song you are singing, no
matter how poetic the prayer you are praying, if it isn’t sincere then it isn’t
worship, it’s hypocrisy.”[10]
This
next chapter deals with a topic that many Christians do not engage enough in,
this author being one of them: Evangelism. It is the thought of this author
that most people avoid evangelism like the plague because they are afraid of
what the hearer is going to say, and therefore feel like a failure. However,
Whitney says, “Success is measured by the careful and accurate delivery of the
message, not by the response of the recipient.” Upon hearing those words it can
change a person’s entire outlook upon this task. Throughout the chapter, in
several different sections, he speaks of how our life is our witness to some
people.
Moving on to the next chapter, he deals
with service and its different forms. According to Whitney, “Most service, even
that which seems the most glamorous, is like an iceberg. Only the eye of God
ever sees the larger, hidden part of it.”[11]
If you are serving the Lord and it feels like a burden it is not coming from a
place of gratitude. Because, “It is no burden to serve God when we consider
what great things He has done for us.”[12]There
are some who will complain about how hard it is working in the church either
the work itself, dealing with people or the lack of recognition. However, they
should remember that service that cost nothing is worth nothing to anyone.[13]
In
his chapter on stewardship, he covers the two major components of time and
giving (money). Whitney claims, “The clock and the dollar are such substantial
factors in so many parts of life that their role must be considered in any
serious discussion of Godly living.”[14]These
are both things that are in plentiful amounts, but one can be lost and regained,
while the other cannot. “Time appears to
be so plentiful that losing much of it seems inconsequential. But money is
easily wasted as well. And if people threw away their money as thoughtlessly as
they throw away their time, we would think them insane.”[15]Fasting
is the next topic he covers, in some detail. However, there is not much here
that hasn’t been covered by other authors.
Following
fasting is a chapter dedicated to the twin topics of silence and solitude. He
gets the readers attention from the beginning of the chapter by summarizing a
short story called “The Bet.” Silence and solitude are things that are often
taken for granted, but when combined with other disciplines they are great
strength builders. Whitney suggests, “Without silence and solitude we’re
shallow. Without fellowship we’re stagnant. Balance requires them all.”[16]
While there is growth in some areas, there are new skills developed when people
take silence and solitude seriously. He believes, “The skills of observation
and listening are also sharpened in those who practice silence and solitude so
that when they do speak there’s more of a freshness and depth to their words.”[17]
Journaling
is the author’s next topic. A journal is pretty much a diary where you keep
track of daily events, relationships, and insights into Scripture.[18]One
of the best things about a journal is that when “used appropriately, instead of
drawing us more into ourselves, a journal can actually become a means of
propelling us into action for others.”[19]There
is no right or wrong ways to journal, do what feels right to you. In the
following chapter he discusses learning and its styles and forms. He believes
that learning takes place through discipline and not by accident. And the final
chapter is mostly an encouragement to persevere in the disciplines mentioned.
Critique
This
work was a powerful tool in helping this author realize weaknesses in his own
life. One section of his book that I really struggled with was looking for
application from every section of Scripture that you read. However, I did
appreciate when he said, “ Praying over a text is the invitation for the Holy
Spirit to hold his divine light over the words of Scripture to show you what
you cannot see without Him.” [20]Something
I was convicted of was my lack of prayer, while telling people they should pray
about something. I was a person who gave “…lip service to the priority of
prayer, but it always seemed to get crowded out by my urgent things.”[21]At
a later junction in the chapter he was talking about prayers being answered and
made this bold statement, “Sometimes a failure to persist in prayer proves that
we were not serious about our request in the first place.”[22]
In
his section on worship he gives us a clear picture of how to see God in the
best light possible, “The more we focus on God, the more we understand and
appreciate How worthy He is.”[23]But
when there is a problem with worship and it becomes empty, the problem is with
us and not God.[24]
When you serve the Lord, are you doing it with a joyful heart or out of some
obligation? Hopefully it is the first because,
“something is wrong if you can’t serve the Lord with gladness.”[25]
That is a great thought about how our hearts should be full of gladness when
doing things for the Lord. Something this author found interesting was, “in the
courts of ancient kings, servants were often executed for nothing more than
looking sad in the service of the king.”[26]Then
how much more joyous should we be in the service of the Lord.
This
author is learning from the powerful words that “The worship of God does not
always require words, sounds or actions. Sometimes worship consists of a
God-focused stillness and hush.”[27]
When it comes to practicing solitude and silence, that practice is not easy to
develop because we lead hectic lives and the Devil knows what’s at stake.[28]
Application
This
work is rich with so much material it is hard to know where to begin. I guess
I’ll start where the author does with Bible intake; I have upped my daily
reading to two chapters a day and I am meditating on more Scripture throughout
the day. I have also gotten my prayer life in more order and I am praying for
twenty minutes a day. Some things that I was intrigued by were journaling, and
silence and solitude. I have kept a journal of sorts of merely random thoughts,
but I hope to start one that includes a more spiritual side to it. There were
times I used to write out my entire prayer in a journal. I am not sure as to
what format I may start using just yet; it is still a work in progress. Silence
and solitude seem to be of great value and something I need in my hectic life.
I need to start practicing minute retreats.
Conclusion
This
work is a great work that I would highly recommend to anyone no matter their
stage of Christianity. There are many different disciplines to the Christian
life, and this book grazes the surface. I would also recommend Dallas Willard’s
The Spirit of the Disciplines and
Richard J. Foster’s Celebration of Discipline.
By the end of the book you should be encouraged and reinvigorated in your
Christian walk.
Bibliography
Whitney,
Donald S. Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. Colorado
Springs: Nav Press, 1991.
[1]
Donald S.Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. (Colorado
Springs: Nav Press, 1991)17.
[2]Ibid., 28
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