Prayer is a Vehicle

I would argue that these spiritual practices are essential vehicles.

I attempt to spend about three hours in prayer, Scripture, worship, and contemplation each and every day. My primary goal is to get as close to Christ as I possibly can while on earth. If we have a friendship with Christ, shouldn't we do all we can to explore the depths of this friendship? How far does this friendship go? Closeness with Christ is my goal.

Let me be clear: the goal isn't to pray a certain amount of time or read a certain amount of Scripture each day. I'm not praying for praying's sake. Nor am I reading the Bible for the Bible's sake. I do these things with diligence every day because they help me achieve my greater ambition: closeness to Christ that will permeate every area of my life. Praying, reading Scripture, worshiping, and contemplating are simply vehicles to get me to Christ every day. They are tools to help me get to my destination. You can choose to use these vehicles or not. But know that if you choose to not use a vehicle, it could make it harder (way harder) to get to where you want to be in your relationship with Christ.

The closest grocery store to where I live is about 1.5 kilometers away. If I wanted to, I could walk there. It will take me about 20 minutes to walk the distance from my home to the store. Or I could make life easier and choose to take my car. If I take the car, It'll only take me about 4 minutes to get to the store. The car is a great tool to help me reach my goal (go to the grocery store) and to do it in a convenient and efficient manner. If your goal is to get close to Christ, then having vehicles like prayer, Scripture, worship, and contemplation are very helpful. They will aid you in your journey to Christ and Christlikeness.

In fact, I would argue that these spiritual practices are essential vehicles. Growing our relationship with Christ is a long and hard journey—exponentially longer and harder than walking to the grocery store. Vehicles become essential for very long journeys. For example, it's pretty much impossible to travel from Europe to North America without some sort of a vehicle like a boat or a plane. That's the kind of long and hard journey I'm talking about when it comes to our spiritual growth. We need these vehicles of prayer, Scripture, worship, and contemplation to get us to where God wants us to be in our spiritual life. We can't just "walk" across the ocean to a close and vibrant relationship with Jesus. So, think of the spiritual disciplines as essential vehicles to arrive at our most important destination: Christ.

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.

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Obstacles are Opportunities

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The Place of Hard Work in Spirituality