2. Disciplines.
I just don’t like the word “disciplines.” Sounds too much like… work. Sounds too much like… a command. Sounds too much like there’s a demeaning coach demanding his underlings painfully run an overabundance of unnecessary spiritual laps.
But we often tell those who should be spending time in God’s Word that it is their responsibility to carry out the “disciplines” and that reading the Bible is a “discipline.” Terminology does evoke certain emotions and a term that evokes a cringe factor seldom motivates. There’s no need to use a term that slows down the already hesitant. Think about it…
When we love someone we ache to know who they are and our hearts long for them. We don’t find ourselves dreading the moments with them, we live for those moments. But we do dread and even rebel when we are demanded to complete “disciplines.”
I am married to one of the most amazing people on the planet. When we were dating I would do anything to be around her and to know more about her. If she had written a book telling me what she thought, what kind of person she was, and that revealed to me how she had treated her boyfriends in the past I would’ve read it and reread it and reread it. That is, unless she had told me it was “discipline” that was required daily if I wanted to be loved by her.
I’m afraid many of our small group members don’t read their Bibles because in calling this opportunity a discipline we’ve removed the beauty of it and at the same time eradicated the reason for it, to know God, know how He loves us, and how He treats those He loves.
A few suggestions that may help your group members…
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1. Stop speaking of time with God as a discipline.
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2. When speaking of reading the Bible, use phrases like, “growing your love relationship with God,” “building your relationship with Him,”etc…
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3. When describing your own time in God’s Word, tell how it changed your perspective of Him, what fantastic revelation of His character changed how you felt about Him, etc…
