This week I finished John Mark Comer’s (JMC) book Practicing the Way: Be with Jesus, become like him, do as he did. I’m happy to say I recommend the book to just about anyone who wants to grow in grace and live more fully in God’s kingdom.
But let me begin by saying that I dislike his writing style. It has the abrupt and choppy feel of narration – a kind of hip or popular way of cutting off one’s sentences or drawing attention to specific words. This adds emphasis when used sparingly but grates on one’s attention when they are used in every couple paragraphs; if that’s what you can call one, two, and three sentence blocks of text…
Putting that aside, however, the message of the book resonates in its simplicity, clarity, and fervor. You can tell that JMC really believes what he is talking about, has really experienced the kind of life he invites you to live, and urges his readers to look to Jesus in everything. He rightfully acknowledges the influence of Dallas Willard (think Spirit of the Disciplines) on his thinking and refers to him frequently.
JMC wants to call the church back to the basics of discipleship, which he thinks is better termed “apprenticeship.” Most people in the modern west still have a decent sense of what an apprentice is and does, even as our examples and experiences of apprenticeship diminish. An apprentice moves through four stages with his master:
You watch, I do
I do, you help
You do, I help
You do, I watch
JMC’s formulation of how we ought to be apprentices to Jesus consists of three parts: be with Jesus, become like Jesus, do as Jesus did.
The first step is to be with Jesus. It involves fellowship and prayer. It involves setting aside time to be with God – to think about Him, to read his Word, to walk with Him. We will not become like Jesus if we don’t spend time with Him. And we won’t be able to do as he did if we don’t become like Him.
Dallas Willard uses a great analogy of a boy wanting to emulate a famous baseball player. The boy will fail to become like the famous baseball player when he focuses on superficial imitation rather than substantive imitation. He might try to hold his bat exactly as the famous player does. Or wear the same shoes or cap. The boy might copy parts of the player’s warm up routine or stance. But none of these things really make the boy like the famous baseball player.
And that’s because these elements are not what make the famous baseball player the famous baseball player. It is years of disciplines and habits and training that have made the baseball player exceptional. Years of sprints and weights, of drills and practice, of hundreds and hundreds of games, of diet and exercise – those are the things that allow a great baseball player to hit home runs, steal bases, pitch fastballs, and much more.
In the same way, the spiritual disciplines are the habits of life that form people into Christ-likeness so that they can live out Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. Instead of reading the Sermon on the Mount as a set of actions and motivations we need to gin up via willpower, we should view Jesus’ commands as describing how Christ-like followers will behave.
But back to John Mark Comer. Spending time with Jesus will naturally make us more like him – just as spending time with our spouse or a friend or a mentor will make us more like them. And become more like Jesus will naturally lead us to act more like him, to do as he did.
But how does one do these things? First, JMC wants us to recognize that we do not live in a neutral world. We have already chosen (perhaps unconsciously) to spend time with certain people or things. We are already like certain people we listen to or watch. We already have habits, tendencies, and actions that are forming us into something. The question then becomes, who or what are you being formed into?
JMC recommends creating a “Rule of Life” to create processes of being with Jesus, becoming like him, and doing as he did. This rule of life involves doing some new things, yes, but more importantly it means saying “no” to many other things. We need to fill our lives with godly things and empty our lives of worldly things if we want to grow in Christ-likeness (peace, power, love, goodness, etc.)
The nine disciplines or habits JMC thinks we should consider for our lives are:
1. Sabbath
2. Solitude
3. Prayer
4. Community
5. Scripture
6. Fasting
7. Generosity
8. Service
9. Witness
I’ll just comment on a few of these as they relate to me.
When it comes to fasting, I highly recommend my friend Jay Richards’ book Eat, Fast, Feast. I’ve only read a few books on fasting, but this was the best by far. February is a good month to read it so that you can try applying his lessons and ideas for the Lenten season. I have not practiced fasting much since Lent of last year, but my fasting during Lent of last year was new and powerful (for me) and something I look forward to doing again – at least in the way you look forward to doing a hard work out because you know it will be good for you.
My life contains a fair amount of community and service already. The other categories require more intentional work and practice. But the discipline I want to practice much more this year is Sabbath. Without being legalistic, there are many “radical” but simply ways one can create a “rule” for Sabbath keeping.
One might be taking a digital Sabbath – turning off all of one’s electronic devices (phone, computer, tablet, etc.) for 24 hours over the Sabbath.
In conjunction with fasting, being intentional about feasting on Sunday could be another. If you had asked me a year ago how my meals or food intake on Sunday was different from other days of the week, I wouldn’t have had an answer for you.
Related to Sabbath is the idea of rest. I think JMC is right when he suggests that most Americans do not rest well or intentionally with discipline. I know I certainly don’t! I actually listened to a fascinating short podcast episode about health recently where the speaker also emphasized the importance of good rest and how to get it: lowering one’s resting heart rate before going to sleep by:
1) eating your last food for the day as early as you can;
2) limiting caffeine intake in the afternoon or earlier;
3) not looking at screens of any kind for an hour before bed; focusing on peaceful/restful activity in the hour or two leading up to bed.
I think all of these make sense, and that sleeping well is really important. And I have done miserably at all three over the past ten days since I listened to the podcast. Which simply illustrates JMC’s point: I have already been formed in other ways by habits and desires and priorities, which reveal themselves in my not doing what I think I ought to do.
These three practices should contribute towards Sabbath rest, as well as “putting your phone to bed” and not getting it up until you have done some important things in the morning.
Although I have emphasized some practical elements here, JMC really focuses on the heart behind being with and being like Jesus. He describes the joy and peace and beauty of kingdom living. And he emphasizes the importance of living in community with others.
So, if you are looking for a relatively breezy, but still heartfelt, motivational, and practical guide to growing in grace, I certainly recommend taking a look at JMC’s book (or Willard’s Spirit of the Disciplines).
