Sensible Asceticism

Sensible asceticism is a phrase used by Dallas Willard in his book The Spirit of the Disciplines. He uses it to refer to Jesus' ability to combine rigorous and disciplined habits of prayer, meditation, and solitude with passionate living alongside prostitutes, drunks, and tax collectors.

We never seem to find that same balance that Jesus and his disciples possessed. Either we go crazy on the ascetic side - which results in some of the extreme behaviors of the monastic age. Or we go crazy on the "freedom in Christ" side and experience no essential difference between our lives as followers of Jesus and anyone else. Having generally lived more in the second world than the first, part of this journey is figuring out how these disciplines fit into my faith experience and practice.

This becomes a really practical question for me today. Tonight my wife and I are going to a party with a pretty crazy group of people (drug dealers, Wiccans, homosexuals, criminals of various stripes, pagans, and a few Christians). This party is an intentional attempt for Jesus followers from our church to connect with a nearby neighborhood through a mutual friend who lives there. There has been an incredible spiritual battle taking place as we've begun planning how to influence the people in this neighborhood with the love of Jesus. It has become apparent that without a strong foundation of prayer we are in big trouble.

But it goes farther than that. How do I place myself in a position to be able to, like Jesus, wholly commit himself to God's purpose and mission while partying with his "sinner" friends? I think that the mistake I have often made is to focus so much on building relationships that I have forgotten that Jesus also possessed spiritual power/discernment/compassion/love that could only come from his intentional time with his Father. Learning to be like Jesus...I suppose that's what being a disciple is all about.