I suppose we get into habits of using "Christianese" words such as becoming a Christian, growing with Christ,and having a relationship with him instead of formal ones. Christian Spiritual Formation is the politically correct way of stating those "Christianese" words in a formal fashion. In the paper Spiritual Formation by Brian C.Hull he states that spiritual formation is a "Spirit-driven process that differentiates from a self-driven process or a purely environmental impact." This statement really helped me because I always wonder how my friends that aren't Christians still succeed and so many things and work so hard for success. Now I understand that it's the difference of self-motivation and spirit motivation. In my life I have discovered that living life self-motivated doesn't …show more content…
He states that "the word "discipline" often carries a negative connotation". I fully agree with this statement. I believe how each of us was raised at home and at school has a huge impact on our view of discipline. Growing up the word discipline was my arch-nemisis. Until my 20's I was constantly getting disciplined for something or other.With a life long history of severe ADD it has been very hard to be disciplined in any form or fashion.The word reminds me of all of my personal failures.Already after reading a few chapters and articles about the true meaning of spiritual discipline I feel that my view is going to be changed for the better by the end of this semester. Fasting,submission,meditation,solitude,prayer,worship,celebration,confession,guidance,service,and simplicity are the spiritual disciplines we are covering in this class. The two disciplines I am not familiar with are guidance and simplicity. After reading some of Ortberg's book I think the disciplines of guidance and simplicity will be taught in the book. Personally the act of worship always brings me encouragement. When stress arises in my life I always go to my Christian worship music to bring peace. Service has been a good discipline for me because it keeps me outward focused which keeps me from being self-centered. 1