"I go through life as a transient on his way to eternity, made in the image of God but with that image debased, needing to be taught how to meditate, to worship, to think." -Donald Coggan
Foster opens with this: "Superficiality is the curse of our age. The doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem. The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people." As I sat thinking about Foster's introduction, Door to Liberation, something I had written years earlier came to mind; "when you put the world inside of your body it will always come out smelling bad...I'm talking about eating, of course." I've been doing a lot of that lately, putting the world inside, and quite frankly, I stink. I'm ready for a detox. I'm not talking about too much celebrity gossip on TMZ. I'm talking about the hundred little decisions you make everyday that seep in and subtly tweak your character until one day you realize you don't like who you are becoming. I don't love my neighbor as much as I should, my compassion is waining and my heart is becoming cold. The Lord has been talking to me about my character lately. He's saying that it has cracks in it and that he has so much for me but that he needs my character to be able to stand up under the blessings he has in store. The podcast "Blank Check" that I posted talks about this and it's worth the listen.
Foster points out several things that are important to understand about ourselves and the disciplines. The first is that individual sins are not the problem; sin is a condition of the soul, out of which individual sins arise. We need to acknowledge this and deal with the condition of sin. Willpower can only get us so far and only for a period of time when dealing with individual sins. Only God can change the root cause. Ever wonder why self-help books never work? Do not be mistaken, the disciplines are not self-help disciplines, they are a tool that when used with respect can place you in a position for God to do the work. On page seven Foster explains it best:
"The apostle Paul says, "he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap
corruption; but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life"
(Gal. 6:8). Paul's analogy is instructive. A farmer is helpless to grow grain; all he can
do is provide the right conditions for the growing of grain. He cultivates the ground,
he plants the seed, he waters the plants, and then the natural forces of the earth take
over and up comes the grain. This is the way it is with the Spiritual Disciplines - they
are a way of sowing to the spirit. The disciplines are God's way of getting us into the
ground; they put us where he can work within us and transform us. By themselves
the Spiritual Disciplines can do nothing; they can only get us to a place where
something can be done."
Another point of Foster's, and as I mentioned earlier, the disciplines are a tool. These tools are for helping us fall more in love with the Lord and transformation is merely the by-product. How could you not be transformed by being in the presence of the All Mighty? Be cautious however not to turn the tools into your focus and transformation into the goal. This will leave you feeling frustrated, far from God and a slave to empty rituals. If your heart is honestly set on the Lord, he'll let you know if you're in danger of letting this happen. His guidance is trustworthy. "Leo Tolstoy observes, 'Everybody thinks of changing humanity and nobody thinks of changing himself.'" So I say let us bask in the presence of our Lord and in so doing, be changed.