Rooted

Dear friend, do what I tell you;

    treasure my careful instructions.
Do what I say and you’ll live well.
    My teaching is as precious as your eyesight—guard it!
Write it out on the back of your hands;
    etch it on the chambers of your heart. Proverbs 7:1-3 [i]

John Wesley frequently distinguished between those who are Christian in name only and those who are real Christians. One key difference in discipline. He quoted a common saying of early Christians, “The soul and the body make a [person]; the spirit and discipline make a Christian.” (Sermon 122)

Discipline in this sense is not punishment. Instead, spiritual disciplines are practices that help us become rooted and to grow in our faith, our hope, and our love of God and neighbor. They include the means of grace (e.g., worship, Bible study, prayer, and Holy Communion) whereby God empowers us to do what God has commanded. … Following spiritual disciplines, including the wisdom of Proverbs, leads to a more fulfilling life. For Wesley, happiness came from holiness.[ii]

Etching God’s Word on the table of our hearts implies the internalization of God’s commands so that not only one’s actions but also one’s motives are pure.[iii]

In Mark 1:29-31, when Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law, we see that Jesus did not require an audience. He was never too tired to help; the needs of others took precedence over his own desire for rest. Jesus embodied this very internalization of God’s commands. He showed his authority to heal was a combination of God’s unique knowledge and unique power, the embodiment of spiritual discipline etched on his heart.  Jesus’ prayer for healing was not a combination of ritual and paraphernalia of popular magic, but a simple gesture and word of unique authority and power healed the woman.

From this action, the disciples learned the very essence of the Christian life that became the habit of a lifetime. In etching God’s word on their hearts, and writing it on the backs of their hands, they learned to take all their troubles to Jesus and to ask his help for them. In Peter’s wife’s mother they saw the response that comes through the power of prayer in using her recovered health for renewed service. Jesus helps us that we may help others.[iv] We become rooted in him. From him we are granted authority and power through discipline.

Rooted in Him                                Take It To the Lord in Prayer                                 All We Ask

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[i] The Message (MSG) Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson.

[ii] The Wesley Study Bible (NRSV) ©2009 Abingdon Press. p.768.

[iii] NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible. Copyright © 2016 Zondervan Press. Note Proverbs 3:3.

[iv] Barclay, William. The New Daily Study Bible. Mark. pp. 42-43.