Series is a book review and study of Richard Foster’s Book, Celebration of Discipline. All quotes from the book are Foster unless otherwise denoted.
Last week we revisited the inward disciplines, so today we’ll be tackling the outward disciplines. If I’m honest, this is where I tend to camp out. Obviously, simplicity is something dear to my heart, and I spend a great deal of time fine tuning this in my life. Service is the other area I find myself gravitating towards. It’s those middle two that often throw me for a loop.
Outward Disciplines:
simplicity
solitude
submission
service
Disciplines bring about an inward reality that result in an outward lifestyle, thus the reason we focus on the outward disciplines only after we’ve first addressed our heart. The outward disciplines are not meant to be a showy gesture of our righteousness. Rather, these disciplines are meant to come out of an overflow from our personal relationship to Christ. They are meant to shape our lives, and the content there within, towards the focus of our heart and mind. These four disciplines also prepare us to enter into the corporate disciplines, and further embed ourselves in the community of the Kingdom.
The best way to think about the outward disciplines are to think of them as the tangible offereings of the time devoted to meditation, prayer, fasting, and study. While some of the inward disciplines certainly have an outwardly visual component, these are meant to be done in private. In contrast, the outward disciplines, while rooted in the depth of our being, can’t help but be visual reminders of the actions that are to accompany our professions.
To recap all of the spiritual disciplines from Foster’s book, check out the full series: Celebrating the Spiritual Disciplines
