I’ve heard it said that the grass isn’t greener in your friend’s yard; it’s greener where you water it. The same is true of our spiritual lives. If we want to grow, we must water our spiritual life with disciplines.
This used to stress me out because the word discipline doesn’t sound winsome, fun, or creative. It sounds downright pedestrian. But habits? That sounds accomplishable.
As I look back at the times I grew the most, I realize that I grew during times of surprising spiritual habits.
These seven habits are not your typical ones, and you may be surprised how refreshing and rejuvenating they’ll become in your daily life.
We live in a gigantic culture, always trying to one-up each other, going bigger and better. Spectacular is what we chase, and in that pursuit, the mundane slips into the background.
Yet Jesus tells us, “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won't be honest with greater responsibilities” (Luke 16:10, NLT).
How we obey during the small things determines the trajectory of our growth. Growth doesn’t come by knowledge only. We can know a bunch of theological mandates and be well-versed in Scripture, yet miss Jesus.
Jesus told the Pharisees an alarming statement, “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life” (John 5:35-40).
True growth comes in undecorated obedience to Jesus — in realizing that He alone gives life and worth, and hope. When we discipline ourselves to live for His fame and not our own, we find great joy in obeying Him, no matter how insignificant the task.
The habit is this: say yes to the small.
Others watch us, and sometimes folks reward us for what we do, but the greatest gifts come from the Lord in secret. Consider doing a study on the God of secrets.
In my foray through the Bible, I found a treasure of verses:
I especially appreciate what God does when we feel like no one understands us or that our pain is too big. God gives us treasure in dark times.
“I will give you treasures hidden in the darkness — secret riches. I will do this so you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, the one who calls you by name” (Isaiah 45:3, NLT).
We serve a God who discerns and understands our secrets. He sees us when we think no one cares. And He rewards our trust in that seeing. This is not an easy habit to cultivate, but it helps us become more patient.
We follow a wildly creative God who makes amazing animals, wide open skies, the scent of roses, and you and me. Each of us is uniquely different. Is it no surprise that we connect with God in different ways?
But we’ve settled ourselves into prescribed rhythms, staid “quiet times,” and rote prayers, forgetting that we bear the marks of our Creator.
The habit of creativity involves following hard after God outside of the box of how we might have done things in the past. Instead of saying our prayers, why not write them out? Or paint our petitions? Or create a collage of our dreams, asking God to bring them to fruition?
How about writing a lament psalm or voicing new words to an old worship song? Why not move from our bedroom to the canopy of trees outside and experience the Creator in creation? Spending time with. God should be an invigorating adventure, not a time slot you check off.
Make it a habit to be creative.
The Lord’s prayer instructs us to ask God to forgive us in the same manner that we forgive others. Learning to pardon and move on is one of the hardest habits we can cultivate. Why? Because our nature is to hold onto an offense.
We gravitate toward judgment and rightness. When someone who should be punished remains unpunished, we feel it’s our job to enact judgment — by our bitter unforgiveness.
Holding onto offenses to the point that we dangle them in front of our foes only makes us miserable. And it proves, in a roundabout way, that we haven’t really understood God’s giant forgiveness of us.
We have a mountain of offense between us and the Almighty, yet our friend has a molehill of offense between us. Why is it that we can accept the mountain and not forgive the molehill?
We are more like Jesus when we forgive. When He hung on the cross, He uttered forgiveness for the very folks who placed Him there. And because He forgave, He can help us forgive.
This is not an easy habit, but it will revolutionize your heart and stave off bitterness.
Recently, I asked my Facebook readers what they felt was the number one stumbling block for modern-day Christians. By far, the “winner” was busyness. We run on an endless treadmill of tasks, following every to-do.
And when we reach burnout, we fizzle and cry. In that space, we can’t grow. We can only lick our busyness wounds and jump back into the rat race.
It’s a discipline to rest — to trust God enough to refrain from work, believing that He will provide for us even when we take a break. Spiritual growth never happens in a hurry. It thrives when we make it a habit to slow down, take Sabbath, retreat, and have space in our lives to think and pray.
Unfortunately, we view rest as evil, and we run away from the very thing God gave us that will grow us and keep us healthy.
We’re like the Israelites who ran from their strength. “Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength, but you would have none of it” (Isaiah 30:15, NLT).
What would it look like to have a rest habit this week?
When life gets stressful, our first instinct is to complain or lament. It’s not often that we sing. But if we make it a habit of singing our way through our trials, we’ll find deliverance and joy. David wrote, “I will shout for joy and sing your praises, for you have ransomed me” (Psalm 71:23, NLT).
We have many reasons to sing. God has ransomed us from darkness into amazing, marvelous light. He has saved us from our sins. Because of that, let’s sing.
When we choose to sing and praise God even when we don’t feel like it, we introduce gratitude to our agenda. We shift our perspective from the problems around us to praising God in the midst.
When we sing along to our worship playlists, we concentrate more on God’s adequacy than our fear of what happens next, and in that, we grow.
Worship is a turn-around habit, helping us reframe our heartache.
Did you know that people in the New Testament era were considered wealthy if they had a change of clothes and didn’t have to work for their very next meal? In light of that, we live as kings and queens.
And in that glut, we forget that we weren’t made for this earth. We’re made for another world, a better place. Yet we habitually toil and build our empires here.
Paul gives us some sobering words when he talks about the end of time. He speaks of fire and what we’ve done on earth.
If the work survives [the fire], the builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames (1 Corinthians 3:14-15, NLT).
I don’t want to slip through by the skin of my teeth. I’m weary of Mary-centric works. Living in light of heaven gives us purpose each day to examine our works, our choices, and our lifestyle in light of the great glory that is to come.
It’s a holy habit to consciously think about the next world.
In these seven habits, I’ve found surprising joy and freedom. I invite you to obey in the small things, trust God in the secret places, cultivate creativity, dare to forgive, rest when life is chaotic, sing during your trials, and consider heaven through it all. These habits will help you grow in new, surprising ways.
For further reading:
5 Ways to Invest in Your Spiritual Growth This Year
5 Habits to Help Start Your Day with Jesus
How Is Spiritual Growth Like Gardening?
Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/Riska
Mary DeMuth is the author of 47 books, including Everything: What You Give and What You Gain to Become Like Jesus (Thomas Nelson), from which this article is adapted. She loves to help her readers and listeners live uncaged, freedom-infused lives. She makes her home in Texas with her husband of 33 years, a needy chocolate lab, and a vocal black cat. She’s the mom of three adult children. Find out more at marydemuth.com