Developing Your Spiritual Exercises
We should consider developing the spiritual practices themselves to match our growth and maturity.
Are you plateauing in your spiritual development? I think it's a pretty common experience. I've experienced it myself. I wonder if one reason a spiritual plateau occurs is because our spiritual practices have not kept up with our spiritual growth? We’re still using the same basic spiritual practices and techniques that we learned from the beginning of our journey. And we haven't considered developing them any further. It's like a piano student who's no longer growing in their skills simply because they're only using material and techniques that were taught to them in the very first level.
Any new believer in Christ is encouraged to practice some simple spiritual disciplines such as prayer, reading the Bible, and worship. If that new believer seriously engages in these simple spiritual exercises, they will grow tremendously in their spiritual life. And that's simply because it's all new to them. It's like a person who goes to the gym and picks up dumbbells for the first time. Even a small amount of weight will provide enough of a challenge for them and they can see some quick physical development in a short period of time. But the amount of benefit a person will get from that very light dumbbell will most certainly diminish over time. Veteran gymgoers know that they will need to challenge themselves with heavier weights and more strenuous exercises if they want to keep developing their physical body and not end up plateauing or worse, declining.
I wonder if something similar happens in the spiritual realm? The simple spiritual exercises we engaged in when we were young believers helped a lot for a period of time. We probably grew tremendously especially at the beginning of our spiritual journey. But if that's the only thing we're still doing today as mature believers, then the benefits we will receive isn't going to be as impactful. It will likely suffer from some diminishing returns. And so, we should consider using heavier spiritual weights to challenge us to keep growing. We should consider developing the spiritual practices themselves to match our growth and maturity.
Here are a few examples of how this might work:
Spending 15-30 minutes a day in quiet time with the Lord might be very helpful for a beginner. But those who are more mature believers may want to consider spending a lot more time with God to develop stronger and deeper spiritual muscles. As a suggestion, you might consider adding 30 more minutes to your quiet time. Then add even more later on.
If you're used to reading only one passage of the Bible each day, then you might consider reading more passages as you mature. Currently, I'm reading at least eight different passages of Scripture a day to keep challenging myself to grow.
Consider adding more challenging spiritual disciplines such as memorizing Scripture.
Our spiritual practices need to develop alongside our spiritual growth. It's like adding heavier weights to your barbells when you do the chest press so that you can challenge yourself and grow stronger. Developing your spiritual practices is like adding heavier spiritual weights so that you exert more effort and subsequently gain more benefit.
Just a disclaimer as we end this blog post: if a believer is in a hard spiritual season and they haven't done any spiritual exercises in a while, trying to do too much may become a burden and a hindrance to progress. Don't do too much at the onset. At that point, they may decide to simply go back to the basics and just spend 15-30 minutes with God or just read a chapter of the Bible. I suggest building consistency first with the spiritual practices and then working on developing them later on.
Barnabas the Monastic
Servant of Christ. Husband. Dad. Modern Monastic. I have a wild ambition in life: get as close to the Lord Jesus Christ as I can while on earth. I explore and integrate ancient Christian monk wisdom in modern everyday life. Lives in Canada.
