Spiritual Practices

I was reading a book about depression. I can’t claim it to be the most riveting material I’ve ever read. Honestly, if you were to read the book, you might become more depressed. However, it was helpful to me as it outlined some practical adjustments to my lifestyle that would combat some of the symptoms of seasonal depression. Like many other resources, this book zeroed in on improved sleep, diet, and exercise as the key factors in returning to mental and emotional health.

In this new portion of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, he addresses a few spiritual rhythms, common to his people, viewed as key factors in moving toward spiritual health: giving, praying, and fasting. As Jesus assesses how these rhythms are practiced by those meant to set the example, he points out a few necessary adjustments. If followers of Jesus are going to experience spiritual health and vitality in their relationship with God, they need to embrace a better way of carrying out religious habits.

Religious habits like giving, praying, fasting, or maybe more familiar to us, attending church, and reading scripture are obviously good things. But they are easily misunderstood and corrupted by our mixed motives. For the religious leaders, these practices were a way of showcasing their spirituality in front of others “to be seen by them”. For us, these religious habits might be ways we soothe our consciences and convince ourselves that God likes us because we’ve accomplished something that seems godly. Both of those motives fall short of the vision Jesus has for citizens of God’s kingdom as they participate in such practices.

The way followers of Jesus give, pray and fast should flow from a desire to connect and interact with God personally. These were never meant to be about making others like or respect us. They weren’t meant to be about making God like or respect us, either. Our spiritual rhythms won’t make God like us more, but they can make us more like God. When we give, our goal should be to recognize God’s authority over what we have and to benefit others with what we’ve been given. When we pray, our goal should be to talk honestly with our Creator about who He is, who we are, and what we need. When we fast, our goal should be to acknowledge our dependence on God –that we need Him more than we need food– and to become more attentive to Him. When we participate in spiritual exercises the way God intended, our souls find rest, we are nourished and stretched to become more like the kind of people we were created to be.

Discussion Questions

• Icebreaker: What is your favorite way to exercise physically? What is your least favorite way to exercise physically?
• How can you give without “your left hand know what your right hand is doing”?
• What does verse 8, along with the brevity of the prayer Jesus offers, tell you about God? What does it tell you about how you should pray?
• What verse in this passage do you find the most uncomfortable? Why?
• How familiar to you is the practice of fasting? What could the spiritual benefit of fasting be?
• How have you seen these spiritual practices displayed negatively? How have you seen them carried out in a healthy manner?