Through much of my life, even through much of my redeemed life in Christ, I had no insight into the Meaning of Life. Why am I here? What purpose do I or others maintain? The tiny little infant who lives for only ten minutes or an hour outside the womb--to what purpose? Some people seem merely to exist. To what end? For what does my life count? Do I matter? What should I be doing? To what purpose (career, job, ministry) am I called of God? I did not begin asking these questions until I turned 50. Most of the answers I received centered around a career, enjoying the pleasures of life, or some inner peace I was supposed to find at the core of my being. I was so me-centered that, now, I am not surprised that I found nothing concrete about the answers and found no satisfaction in either myself or my life. When I would read from some authors that the Meaning of Life was "for the glory of God," I had no idea what that meant, and the answer rang a bit hollow for me.
THE CHIEF END OF MAN
"The chief end of man," we read in the Westminster Shorter Catechism, is "to glorify God and enjoy Him forever" (Ps. 73:25, 26; Rom. 11:36; 1 Cor. 10:31). Dr. Dennis Prutow highlights the word "end," in the phrase "chief end of man," referring it to God's purposes in Christ for creating us. Q. What is the Meaning of Life? A. You, restored, redeemed, regenerate believer, were created for the purposes and the eternal delight of God in Christ Jesus through the indwelling Holy Spirit, to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever. This is the meaning of life. God, then, should "carry the most weight in your life" (cf. Ps. 73:25, 26). You and I should learn what it means to enjoy God first, corresponding with Jesus' words to "seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things [that you need in life] will be added to you" (Matt. 6:33), and then we will find joy, purpose, and meaning in our lives; and we will discover that the greatest joy is actually the eternal life to come through Christ. Your "best life now" cannot compare with the promised eternal life with, by, and in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:18-25; 1 Cor. 2:9).
But can we not enjoy this life in the here and now? Yes, I believe that many of us can, but perhaps not all of us. When believers live under the threat of death every day because of their faith in Christ, that would not be their "best life now," and they would find such a Western (and particularly American) idea as inconsistent not only with their reality but even with the New Testament. Believers are said to be "protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (1 Pet. 1:5). But Peter also writes: "In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary [by God willing it], you have been distressed by various trials" (1 Pet. 1:6). Believers tolerating harsh treatment without retaliation "finds favor" with God: "if, for the sake of conscience toward God, a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly" (1 Pet. 2:19). We were even called (Phil. 1:29) to this condition in Christ (1 Pet. 2:21, 22, 23; 3:8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16): "For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong" (1 Pet. 3:17).
"Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose" (1 Pet. 4:1). "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation" (1 Pet. 4:12, 13). "Be of sober spirit--be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist [stand against] him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world" (1 Pet. 5:8, 9). That's a small sampling from one Book on God's call for believers in Christ to suffer. So much for our best life now!
KNOWING GOD
What if knowing God the Father through Jesus His Son is the Meaning of Life? Would you want that Life? What if knowing God personally (relationally), by a relationship maintained through prayer, worship, and study of His inerrant Word, is the very purpose for which you were created? What if your salvation, and your simple enjoyment of this salvation, was the meaning of your life? What if life itself was not actually about you--meaning that you are not the center of the universe--but God in Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is the center of all that exists, including your own existence, and being someone whom the LORD redeemed, and your delight in it, is life, is purpose, is meaning? I promise that you will never find ultimate joy in a career, a marriage, or in obtaining wealth, or beauty, or fame. You were not created for the purpose, the meaning, of a career, a marriage, wealth, beauty, or fame. Whatever your heart desires to do in life, as long as it is ethical and moral, does not ultimately matter. You can choose your own career path, ministry, or non-career-related sustenance. What matters most and ultimately is knowing God the Father, in God the Son, by God the Holy Spirit--not a knowledge about God but a personal knowledge in union with God.
We are entirely unsatisfied in life when we fail to know God, enjoy God, and live to honor Him in all we think and say and do. We do not possess a sense of accomplishment or purpose or meaning when we focus on this life and think that this life is all there is; we are hopeless when we forget that this is not our Home. You live, you die, so what? You are not fulfilled in this life because you do not know the Giver of Life. Jesus said: "This is eternal life, that they may know [ginóskó, know by experience] You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (John 17:3 NASB, emphasis added). The added "and Jesus Christ" is paramount! God called us (Rom. 8:30) to know Him and to know Jesus Christ. Do you experientially know Him daily? Do you seek to not only live for Jesus, and in Him, but to yield to Jesus living His life through you? When people encounter you, they need to encounter Him who lives in you, they need to see Jesus Himself in you (John 12:21).
CREATED BY HIM AND FOR HIM
"I," all that identifies me personally in and of myself, writes the apostle Paul, "have been crucified with Christ," having died to the life I thought I wanted, to living life my way, in my sinfulness; and "it is no longer I who live but Christ [who] lives [His life] in me" (Gal. 2:20 NASB). Is Jesus living His life through you? Think on the Meaning of Life in this way: Paul insists, by the Holy Spirit, that "all things have been created through Him," that is, Jesus, "and for Him" (Col. 1:16; cf. John 1:1, 2, 3; Heb. 1:1, 2, 3). You were created for the purpose and the delight of Christ. All things were created not only through Him but for Him. He created you for His own delight so that you can now live as He lives His life through you--and live with Him forever. Your Purpose in Life, the very Meaning of Life, is found solely in Jesus your LORD and Savior.
Jesus is to be our Everything, our Obsession, the Center of our Universe. "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ [cf. Eph. 1:20; 2:6]," writes Paul, "set [fix] your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set [fix] your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died [to the things of the world and the old life you lived in sin, cf. "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world," Gal. 6:14 NIV], and your [new] life [in Christ] is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life [cf. "I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me," Gal. 2:20 NIV], appears [when Jesus returns for us], then you also will appear with Him [cf. 1 John 3:2] in glory" (Col. 3:1-4 NIV). Jesus is the Meaning of Life--He is our Life.
TO LIVE IS CHRIST
This is why Paul writes: "For, to me, to live is Christ" (Phil. 1:21). Life is not merely for living but for living in Jesus our Redeemer, Savior, LORD and King. You have been delivered out of a self-destructive life-context of sin and transferred into a Kingdom of immense Love, and Joy, and Peace in the Holy Spirit, by Christ Jesus, according to the working of God the Father. What is the Meaning of Life? All meaning and all purpose in life is to experientially know and enjoy your redeeming God, in Christ, by the indwelling Holy Spirit--to exist as Jesus lives His life in and through you--for His enjoyment in creating your unique being. You exist in Jesus and for Jesus. He is all-Meaning, all-Purpose, all-Life.
HOW SHALL I ENJOY HIM?
Too often we are told the what but not the how: How are you to experience, know, enjoy and to yield to Jesus living His life in and through you? Some well-meaning Christians answer: By the practice of the Spiritual Disciplines. We are commanded to pursue--lit. track down and tackle--holiness of heart and life (Heb. 12:14), living as Jesus lived (1 Pet. 1:13, 14, 15, 16; 2:21; 1 John 2:6), cultivating the same disposition Jesus possessed and expressed daily in His humility (Phil. 2:5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11). We are commanded to a life for the ultimate purpose of godliness--being conformed to the image and the likeness of Jesus Christ (1 Tim. 4:7). But this work is that of God (Rom. 8:29). We are called of God to work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12) and, so, we know that effort needs to be made on our part. But that effort does not derive from ourselves but from the inner working of God: "for it is God who works in you, to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose" (Phil. 2:13). Learn to pray: "Father, please do in me what I cannot do for myself," and He will do so out of His faithfulness.
Salvation by grace through faith in Christ (Eph. 2:8, 9) brings a restoration of the fallen human being to the image of God (Gen. 1:26, 27; Eph. 2:10). Sin marred the image of God within us (Jer. 18:1, 2, 3, 4) and created a separation (Isa. 59:2). Our creation by God in His image was His intention that we reflect Him--His thoughts, His desires, His life. We lost all of that in the Fall (Isa. 55:8, 9; John 3:19, 20). A person separated from the Life-giver cannot reflect Him, cannot in any sense love Him, and cannot enjoy Him. The believing one, however, is now viewed by God as righteous, just, holy (Rom. 3:21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28; 2 Cor. 5:21; Phil. 3:7, 8, 9, 10). To this restoration the believing one was elected / chosen (Eph. 1:4), the privilege of which is adoption into the family of God with inheritance rights (Eph. 1:5), "to the praise of the glory of His grace with which He favored us in the Beloved" (Eph. 1:6 NASB). All meaning and purpose lost in the Fall is recovered in Redemption. Only those who trust in Jesus Christ experience and learn the Meaning of Life. All life is found in Jesus Christ (John 1:4; 14:6). Christ Jesus is the center of our life, our purpose for living, the meaning toward which we find fulfillment in our existence (cf. Acts 17:26, 27, 28).
WHAT ABOUT SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES?
Donald Whitney wrote a book called Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, the spiritual disciplines including daily reading, studying, and living out your life according to Scripture, as well as prayer, worship, evangelism, service to God in Christ Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit in service to others, stewardship, fasting, silence and solitude, journaling and learning.† Learning the disciplines, of course, requires practice and is a life-long experience and process in Christ, the purpose of which is godliness (1 Tim. 4:7), godliness being closeness with and conformity to Christ. For Whitney, the disciplines for godliness are commanded, not merely suggested. The disciplines, then, become another Law--a New Covenant Law imposed upon believers. One problem with these disciplines is the imposition of them. In other words, if you are not daily practicing each one of these virtues then you are not close to the Lord Jesus, you are not being conformed to His image, and you are probably worldly (or worse--not saved). Such a legalistic imposition becomes burdensome and ends up defeating true believers.
Should we not be reading and studying Scripture? Should we not be praying and evangelizing? Should we not be giving to the work of the Lord and to the needy? Any believer would agree that we should be doing such things (although I am uncertain whether the "disciplines" of silence, solitude, and journaling are New Covenant practices mandated to believers). I used to feel guilty for not liking Whitney's book, which was required reading in college, and also recommended to me years prior by friends. My initial thought was that these disciplines appeared like a new Law. My next thought was that this kind of daily life sounded great for those who are retired, those with plenty of time on their hands, and plenty of resources. As a young college student, with barely enough funds to eat (let alone giving to others) and with very little time for extra reading (because I had reading homework from five classes) or times for silence and solitude while journaling, I found his book to be nothing but a burden and, with the burden, guilt-inducing for considering the book a burden. (I do not recommend his book.)
Here I am these many years later and I still feel the same way about that book. Since 2020, we have not been able to find sufficient help for staffing at work, which means that I work seven days a week and seventy-some hours per week from March to October. Needless to say, there is no way possible I could carry out Whitney's laws of spiritual disciplines during those strenuous eight months. What, then, is to become of me? Am I ungodly? Am I a bad Christian? Is God displeased with me? Questions which bring me to the primary problem with Whitney's book and worldview: this slight-of-hand legalism seems steeped in Lordship theology, that if Christ isn't "Lord of all" then He is not "Lord at all" in your life, an erroneous mantra that neglects the fact that Jesus is LORD (Phil. 2:11) whether or not someone "makes Him Lord" of their life.
Moreover, Whitney's brand of "disciplines," even if inadvertently, is a performance-based sanctification model that carries the potential for wearing out the saints, for Jesus said that His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matt. 11:28, 29, 30)--and Jesus never commanded anyone toward silence, solitude, and journaling (and the more I think about it the more odd and bizarre it appears). If we see Jesus, or any other figure in Scripture, seeking silence, solitude and journaling, those would be descriptive in nature and not prescriptive: describing what someone did without prescribing that we must do likewise. As an aside: we are uncertain as to whether common people in the first through sixteenth centuries, including fishermen and farmers and bond-servants of Masters, could even read and write well. So much for journaling!
Furthermore, God views us not by performance success but de facto through the lens of Jesus Christ Himself (Rom. 3:21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26). God has predetermined by His own sovereignty, redeeming purposes and love, to conform each believer to the image of Jesus--to present them in His presence as spotless and blameless (Rom. 8:29, 30; 2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 1:4, 5; 5:27; Phil. 2:15; Col. 1:22; Heb. 9:14; 1 Pet. 1:19). God is self-determined to sanctify His adopted children--to set them apart from what is common and worldly to what is holy in and for the purposes of God (1 Thess. 5:23): we were and we have been sanctified in the past (1 Cor. 6:11; Heb. 10:10); we are now and we are being sanctified in the present (1 Cor. 1:2; Heb. 2:11; 10:14); and we will be sanctified in the future (Heb. 13:12) by God's own doing--by His own purposes, promises, and perfecting (John 17:17; Phil. 1:6; 2:12, 13; 1 Thess. 4:3; 5:23, 24; Heb. 13:12; 1 Pet. 1:2). We are commanded to seek sanctification of heart and life (Heb. 12:14) and God Himself will see to our sanctification (Ex. 31:13; Lev. 20:8; 21:8, 15, 23; Ezek. 20:12; 37:28; Heb. 2:11).
What if someone does not have a Bible, or cannot read, or cannot read well? Can they be conformed to the image of Jesus--an act God promises for each of His children (Rom. 8:29)? Not according to Whitney's suggesting that the intake of God's Word is the primary way that the child of God is conformed to the Son of God through the Spirit of God in the Word of God. In such a case, then, I fail to understand how millions of believers throughout the last two thousand years ever grew to be more holy since most of them could not read. People could not even afford to purchase their own personal Bible. At best, one community had one Bible, and that was kept in the Church. We in the States take too much for granted and we then we view history through our wealthy and narcissistic twenty-first-century lens. Will we never learn?
I believe prayer and worship is the primary way of God the Father sanctifying, making holy, those of us who by His grace trust in God the Son, Jesus Christ our Savior, by the ministry of the indwelling Holy Spirit. There are at least 650 prayers in the Bible, 450 of which have recorded answers,2 and there are many commands to pray--even in the New Testament (cf. Matt. 6:5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 19, 11, 12, 13; Luke 11:2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13; 1 Thess. 5:17; 1 Tim. 2:1, 2, 3, 8). But there are zero commands to study and learn theology. Does that mean that we shouldn't learn theology or that we don't have to? Heaven forbid! I have loved the Discpline of Theology since I was saved in May of 1995. But we need to get our prirorities aright. The Word of God performs a spiritual work within us (1 Thess. 2:13), yes, but that Word of God can be heard in Sermons and Homilies, heard by others reading the Word to us, and then we can memorize small portions of what is heard. The deaf can learn sign language. The blind can learn braille. God is never restricted by our limitations. But many people are not afforded the privilege of reading, of learning theology, and thereby growing in Christ. While someone may not be able to read, he can pray, she can worship!
THE MEANING OF LIFE IN CHRIST
The meaning of life in Christ is that God, through the effectual work of the indwelling Holy Spirit, considers believers to be as righteous, just as godly, as Jesus Christ Himself by grace through faith in Him (Rom. 3:21-26). I do believe that we need the intake of the Word of God. That can also be accomplished in other ways without opening a physical copy of God's Word, such as hearing the preaching of the Word of God, or some other means (electronic devices like a phone, a computer or TV, or someone reading to us). But we live out our lives in Christ through faith in prayer and worship. Peter encourages us to live out our faith, not with Whitney's spiritual disciplines, but in this manner:
__________
1 Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, revised and expanded (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2014), 7.
2 Publisher's Foreword in Herbert Lockyer, All the Prayers of the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1959), 6.
THE CHIEF END OF MAN
"The chief end of man," we read in the Westminster Shorter Catechism, is "to glorify God and enjoy Him forever" (Ps. 73:25, 26; Rom. 11:36; 1 Cor. 10:31). Dr. Dennis Prutow highlights the word "end," in the phrase "chief end of man," referring it to God's purposes in Christ for creating us. Q. What is the Meaning of Life? A. You, restored, redeemed, regenerate believer, were created for the purposes and the eternal delight of God in Christ Jesus through the indwelling Holy Spirit, to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever. This is the meaning of life. God, then, should "carry the most weight in your life" (cf. Ps. 73:25, 26). You and I should learn what it means to enjoy God first, corresponding with Jesus' words to "seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things [that you need in life] will be added to you" (Matt. 6:33), and then we will find joy, purpose, and meaning in our lives; and we will discover that the greatest joy is actually the eternal life to come through Christ. Your "best life now" cannot compare with the promised eternal life with, by, and in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:18-25; 1 Cor. 2:9).
But can we not enjoy this life in the here and now? Yes, I believe that many of us can, but perhaps not all of us. When believers live under the threat of death every day because of their faith in Christ, that would not be their "best life now," and they would find such a Western (and particularly American) idea as inconsistent not only with their reality but even with the New Testament. Believers are said to be "protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (1 Pet. 1:5). But Peter also writes: "In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary [by God willing it], you have been distressed by various trials" (1 Pet. 1:6). Believers tolerating harsh treatment without retaliation "finds favor" with God: "if, for the sake of conscience toward God, a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly" (1 Pet. 2:19). We were even called (Phil. 1:29) to this condition in Christ (1 Pet. 2:21, 22, 23; 3:8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16): "For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong" (1 Pet. 3:17).
"Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose" (1 Pet. 4:1). "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation" (1 Pet. 4:12, 13). "Be of sober spirit--be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist [stand against] him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world" (1 Pet. 5:8, 9). That's a small sampling from one Book on God's call for believers in Christ to suffer. So much for our best life now!
KNOWING GOD
What if knowing God the Father through Jesus His Son is the Meaning of Life? Would you want that Life? What if knowing God personally (relationally), by a relationship maintained through prayer, worship, and study of His inerrant Word, is the very purpose for which you were created? What if your salvation, and your simple enjoyment of this salvation, was the meaning of your life? What if life itself was not actually about you--meaning that you are not the center of the universe--but God in Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is the center of all that exists, including your own existence, and being someone whom the LORD redeemed, and your delight in it, is life, is purpose, is meaning? I promise that you will never find ultimate joy in a career, a marriage, or in obtaining wealth, or beauty, or fame. You were not created for the purpose, the meaning, of a career, a marriage, wealth, beauty, or fame. Whatever your heart desires to do in life, as long as it is ethical and moral, does not ultimately matter. You can choose your own career path, ministry, or non-career-related sustenance. What matters most and ultimately is knowing God the Father, in God the Son, by God the Holy Spirit--not a knowledge about God but a personal knowledge in union with God.
We are entirely unsatisfied in life when we fail to know God, enjoy God, and live to honor Him in all we think and say and do. We do not possess a sense of accomplishment or purpose or meaning when we focus on this life and think that this life is all there is; we are hopeless when we forget that this is not our Home. You live, you die, so what? You are not fulfilled in this life because you do not know the Giver of Life. Jesus said: "This is eternal life, that they may know [ginóskó, know by experience] You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (John 17:3 NASB, emphasis added). The added "and Jesus Christ" is paramount! God called us (Rom. 8:30) to know Him and to know Jesus Christ. Do you experientially know Him daily? Do you seek to not only live for Jesus, and in Him, but to yield to Jesus living His life through you? When people encounter you, they need to encounter Him who lives in you, they need to see Jesus Himself in you (John 12:21).
CREATED BY HIM AND FOR HIM
"I," all that identifies me personally in and of myself, writes the apostle Paul, "have been crucified with Christ," having died to the life I thought I wanted, to living life my way, in my sinfulness; and "it is no longer I who live but Christ [who] lives [His life] in me" (Gal. 2:20 NASB). Is Jesus living His life through you? Think on the Meaning of Life in this way: Paul insists, by the Holy Spirit, that "all things have been created through Him," that is, Jesus, "and for Him" (Col. 1:16; cf. John 1:1, 2, 3; Heb. 1:1, 2, 3). You were created for the purpose and the delight of Christ. All things were created not only through Him but for Him. He created you for His own delight so that you can now live as He lives His life through you--and live with Him forever. Your Purpose in Life, the very Meaning of Life, is found solely in Jesus your LORD and Savior.
Jesus is to be our Everything, our Obsession, the Center of our Universe. "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ [cf. Eph. 1:20; 2:6]," writes Paul, "set [fix] your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set [fix] your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died [to the things of the world and the old life you lived in sin, cf. "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world," Gal. 6:14 NIV], and your [new] life [in Christ] is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life [cf. "I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me," Gal. 2:20 NIV], appears [when Jesus returns for us], then you also will appear with Him [cf. 1 John 3:2] in glory" (Col. 3:1-4 NIV). Jesus is the Meaning of Life--He is our Life.
TO LIVE IS CHRIST
This is why Paul writes: "For, to me, to live is Christ" (Phil. 1:21). Life is not merely for living but for living in Jesus our Redeemer, Savior, LORD and King. You have been delivered out of a self-destructive life-context of sin and transferred into a Kingdom of immense Love, and Joy, and Peace in the Holy Spirit, by Christ Jesus, according to the working of God the Father. What is the Meaning of Life? All meaning and all purpose in life is to experientially know and enjoy your redeeming God, in Christ, by the indwelling Holy Spirit--to exist as Jesus lives His life in and through you--for His enjoyment in creating your unique being. You exist in Jesus and for Jesus. He is all-Meaning, all-Purpose, all-Life.
HOW SHALL I ENJOY HIM?
Too often we are told the what but not the how: How are you to experience, know, enjoy and to yield to Jesus living His life in and through you? Some well-meaning Christians answer: By the practice of the Spiritual Disciplines. We are commanded to pursue--lit. track down and tackle--holiness of heart and life (Heb. 12:14), living as Jesus lived (1 Pet. 1:13, 14, 15, 16; 2:21; 1 John 2:6), cultivating the same disposition Jesus possessed and expressed daily in His humility (Phil. 2:5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11). We are commanded to a life for the ultimate purpose of godliness--being conformed to the image and the likeness of Jesus Christ (1 Tim. 4:7). But this work is that of God (Rom. 8:29). We are called of God to work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12) and, so, we know that effort needs to be made on our part. But that effort does not derive from ourselves but from the inner working of God: "for it is God who works in you, to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose" (Phil. 2:13). Learn to pray: "Father, please do in me what I cannot do for myself," and He will do so out of His faithfulness.
Salvation by grace through faith in Christ (Eph. 2:8, 9) brings a restoration of the fallen human being to the image of God (Gen. 1:26, 27; Eph. 2:10). Sin marred the image of God within us (Jer. 18:1, 2, 3, 4) and created a separation (Isa. 59:2). Our creation by God in His image was His intention that we reflect Him--His thoughts, His desires, His life. We lost all of that in the Fall (Isa. 55:8, 9; John 3:19, 20). A person separated from the Life-giver cannot reflect Him, cannot in any sense love Him, and cannot enjoy Him. The believing one, however, is now viewed by God as righteous, just, holy (Rom. 3:21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28; 2 Cor. 5:21; Phil. 3:7, 8, 9, 10). To this restoration the believing one was elected / chosen (Eph. 1:4), the privilege of which is adoption into the family of God with inheritance rights (Eph. 1:5), "to the praise of the glory of His grace with which He favored us in the Beloved" (Eph. 1:6 NASB). All meaning and purpose lost in the Fall is recovered in Redemption. Only those who trust in Jesus Christ experience and learn the Meaning of Life. All life is found in Jesus Christ (John 1:4; 14:6). Christ Jesus is the center of our life, our purpose for living, the meaning toward which we find fulfillment in our existence (cf. Acts 17:26, 27, 28).
WHAT ABOUT SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES?
Donald Whitney wrote a book called Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, the spiritual disciplines including daily reading, studying, and living out your life according to Scripture, as well as prayer, worship, evangelism, service to God in Christ Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit in service to others, stewardship, fasting, silence and solitude, journaling and learning.† Learning the disciplines, of course, requires practice and is a life-long experience and process in Christ, the purpose of which is godliness (1 Tim. 4:7), godliness being closeness with and conformity to Christ. For Whitney, the disciplines for godliness are commanded, not merely suggested. The disciplines, then, become another Law--a New Covenant Law imposed upon believers. One problem with these disciplines is the imposition of them. In other words, if you are not daily practicing each one of these virtues then you are not close to the Lord Jesus, you are not being conformed to His image, and you are probably worldly (or worse--not saved). Such a legalistic imposition becomes burdensome and ends up defeating true believers.
Should we not be reading and studying Scripture? Should we not be praying and evangelizing? Should we not be giving to the work of the Lord and to the needy? Any believer would agree that we should be doing such things (although I am uncertain whether the "disciplines" of silence, solitude, and journaling are New Covenant practices mandated to believers). I used to feel guilty for not liking Whitney's book, which was required reading in college, and also recommended to me years prior by friends. My initial thought was that these disciplines appeared like a new Law. My next thought was that this kind of daily life sounded great for those who are retired, those with plenty of time on their hands, and plenty of resources. As a young college student, with barely enough funds to eat (let alone giving to others) and with very little time for extra reading (because I had reading homework from five classes) or times for silence and solitude while journaling, I found his book to be nothing but a burden and, with the burden, guilt-inducing for considering the book a burden. (I do not recommend his book.)
Here I am these many years later and I still feel the same way about that book. Since 2020, we have not been able to find sufficient help for staffing at work, which means that I work seven days a week and seventy-some hours per week from March to October. Needless to say, there is no way possible I could carry out Whitney's laws of spiritual disciplines during those strenuous eight months. What, then, is to become of me? Am I ungodly? Am I a bad Christian? Is God displeased with me? Questions which bring me to the primary problem with Whitney's book and worldview: this slight-of-hand legalism seems steeped in Lordship theology, that if Christ isn't "Lord of all" then He is not "Lord at all" in your life, an erroneous mantra that neglects the fact that Jesus is LORD (Phil. 2:11) whether or not someone "makes Him Lord" of their life.
Moreover, Whitney's brand of "disciplines," even if inadvertently, is a performance-based sanctification model that carries the potential for wearing out the saints, for Jesus said that His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matt. 11:28, 29, 30)--and Jesus never commanded anyone toward silence, solitude, and journaling (and the more I think about it the more odd and bizarre it appears). If we see Jesus, or any other figure in Scripture, seeking silence, solitude and journaling, those would be descriptive in nature and not prescriptive: describing what someone did without prescribing that we must do likewise. As an aside: we are uncertain as to whether common people in the first through sixteenth centuries, including fishermen and farmers and bond-servants of Masters, could even read and write well. So much for journaling!
Furthermore, God views us not by performance success but de facto through the lens of Jesus Christ Himself (Rom. 3:21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26). God has predetermined by His own sovereignty, redeeming purposes and love, to conform each believer to the image of Jesus--to present them in His presence as spotless and blameless (Rom. 8:29, 30; 2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 1:4, 5; 5:27; Phil. 2:15; Col. 1:22; Heb. 9:14; 1 Pet. 1:19). God is self-determined to sanctify His adopted children--to set them apart from what is common and worldly to what is holy in and for the purposes of God (1 Thess. 5:23): we were and we have been sanctified in the past (1 Cor. 6:11; Heb. 10:10); we are now and we are being sanctified in the present (1 Cor. 1:2; Heb. 2:11; 10:14); and we will be sanctified in the future (Heb. 13:12) by God's own doing--by His own purposes, promises, and perfecting (John 17:17; Phil. 1:6; 2:12, 13; 1 Thess. 4:3; 5:23, 24; Heb. 13:12; 1 Pet. 1:2). We are commanded to seek sanctification of heart and life (Heb. 12:14) and God Himself will see to our sanctification (Ex. 31:13; Lev. 20:8; 21:8, 15, 23; Ezek. 20:12; 37:28; Heb. 2:11).
What if someone does not have a Bible, or cannot read, or cannot read well? Can they be conformed to the image of Jesus--an act God promises for each of His children (Rom. 8:29)? Not according to Whitney's suggesting that the intake of God's Word is the primary way that the child of God is conformed to the Son of God through the Spirit of God in the Word of God. In such a case, then, I fail to understand how millions of believers throughout the last two thousand years ever grew to be more holy since most of them could not read. People could not even afford to purchase their own personal Bible. At best, one community had one Bible, and that was kept in the Church. We in the States take too much for granted and we then we view history through our wealthy and narcissistic twenty-first-century lens. Will we never learn?
I believe prayer and worship is the primary way of God the Father sanctifying, making holy, those of us who by His grace trust in God the Son, Jesus Christ our Savior, by the ministry of the indwelling Holy Spirit. There are at least 650 prayers in the Bible, 450 of which have recorded answers,2 and there are many commands to pray--even in the New Testament (cf. Matt. 6:5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 19, 11, 12, 13; Luke 11:2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13; 1 Thess. 5:17; 1 Tim. 2:1, 2, 3, 8). But there are zero commands to study and learn theology. Does that mean that we shouldn't learn theology or that we don't have to? Heaven forbid! I have loved the Discpline of Theology since I was saved in May of 1995. But we need to get our prirorities aright. The Word of God performs a spiritual work within us (1 Thess. 2:13), yes, but that Word of God can be heard in Sermons and Homilies, heard by others reading the Word to us, and then we can memorize small portions of what is heard. The deaf can learn sign language. The blind can learn braille. God is never restricted by our limitations. But many people are not afforded the privilege of reading, of learning theology, and thereby growing in Christ. While someone may not be able to read, he can pray, she can worship!
THE MEANING OF LIFE IN CHRIST
The meaning of life in Christ is that God, through the effectual work of the indwelling Holy Spirit, considers believers to be as righteous, just as godly, as Jesus Christ Himself by grace through faith in Him (Rom. 3:21-26). I do believe that we need the intake of the Word of God. That can also be accomplished in other ways without opening a physical copy of God's Word, such as hearing the preaching of the Word of God, or some other means (electronic devices like a phone, a computer or TV, or someone reading to us). But we live out our lives in Christ through faith in prayer and worship. Peter encourages us to live out our faith, not with Whitney's spiritual disciplines, but in this manner:
In view of all this [that God's divine power has "granted us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust" (2 Pet. 1:3-4 NASB)]. [So, then, you all should supplement] your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge [gnósis, experiential knowledge, applicable knowledge--the kind of knowledge by which you learn to how to live out what you have learned in discipleship and prayer and worship], and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. The more you grow like this the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge [practical knowledge] of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 1:5-8 NLT).Where are Whitney's "disciplines" of silence, solitude, journaling and learning theology?
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1 Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, revised and expanded (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2014), 7.
2 Publisher's Foreword in Herbert Lockyer, All the Prayers of the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1959), 6.
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