Impact of Spiritual Discipline in a world full of distractions.

Photo by Sunguk Kim on Unsplash

INTRODUCTION

We are in the world full of distractions. Distractions always come in our daily life. Notifications interrupt conversation with friends, we engage in social media just to capture chase attention. We live in a world where multitasking is awarded for higher productivity. Being calm and silent feels uncomfortable. Staying still feels very unproductive, so focusing feels much impossible. But spiritual growth teaches one thing, the modern life seems to ignore: discipline. It is not about religion or any kind of God’s commandment but creating a special space for God in our hearts. Spiritual discipline in a distracted world does not mean isolating ourselves from the society. It is about guiding our hearts in the right way in this distracted society. Discipline is not about minding our own life and withdraw from other’s life; it is about knowing God’s purpose and willing to fulfil that purpose without getting distracted.

Jesus as the example of discipline and solitude

Spiritual discipline is not a modern invention. We see many examples of spiritual discipline in the Old Testament, even Jesus himself is a proof of spiritual discipline. Jesus showed us an example of a good prayer, he says when we pray, we have to go in our rooms, close the windows and pray and the Holy Father who sees everything will hear. This tells us, behind this loud world full of distractions, going in private and pray, is the best way of connecting with the Lord. This shows the Importance of private devotion over public displaying. We see that many times in the scripture, Jesus usually withdrew from the crowd to go and pray alone in private and at that moment, he would connect with God. Before Jesus made decisions, he went in private to pray and talk to God.

So if the Child of God managed to withdraw from the society and go pray in private, why is it hard for us to withdraw from the distractions to find a quiet place to pay? Sometimes when we face some emotional struggles, we decide to look for a temporary shortcut to solve them. Many of the time we think that alcohol or drugs is the best way for distracting ourselves from our problems but considering to have a quiet moment with God is commonly rare. That quiet moment we spend with God is worth all the time we spend overthinking about our problems or the time we spend chasing the joy from this world. No one goes to God crying and heavy burdened and comeback empty handed. The joy we get from God is permanent and the Joy we get from this world is temporary.

Spiritual discipline is not about isolation, it is about going in the way that aligns with Christian’s beliefs.

Why does Discipline feels difficult in these Days?

In this generation, we living in, there several ways discipline feels harder. Here are some of the reasons:

1.      Constant stimulation: phones, laptops and streaming platforms promotes the flow of endless information. Being exposed to more information especially sensory information distracts the brain to focus and stay in a still position. Spiritual discipline requires quality of focus, reading, praying and having the alone time with God. When the brain is exposed to unlimited flow of information, it make the brain lose its focus.

2.      Emotional avoidance: silence forces us to deal with our inner thoughts, when we are alone that is the perfect time we get to think of ourselves and deal with our emotions. Many people prefers to engage in distractions just to avoid overthinking about their personal life and engaging in distractions limits the time we spend thinking about ourselves or praying which limits our spiritual discipline.

3.      Desire for productivity: In this generation we live in, we care more about being productive and gaining something. This makes us busy in chasing wealth in a world full of distraction and when we think about self-reflecting, it feels like less productive or wasting time and this time the amount of time we pray in silence becomes inefficient. We often choose productivity over self-reflection.

We most of the time measure our life based on what we achieved, However the Bible does not measure our lives based on the output. It measures our lives based on our fruits.

Discipline and Self Control

In the Bible, Paul compares the spiritual life to athletic training.

Athletics maintain their body discipline for a temporary trophy or award. However, believers disciplines themselves for eternal reward. Maintaining discipline does not mean a punishment, it rather means preparing for the eternal blessing. No artist who accidently master an instrument and no athlete who accidently develop strength. They both work hard for that. It is the same for spiritual discipline; spiritual discipline is not mastered accidently. It is mastered through repetitive actions. A daily prayer helps in strengthening our spiritual discipline, the more we connect with God, and the more we understand his will and goodness to us. Regular reading of the Bible also helps in mastering our spiritual discipline, When we read the Bible we understand what ways God want us to follow and with worshiping, we gain the fruit of holy spirit to lead us in the way of truth and salvation. Another way to master our spiritual discipline is through fasting; by fasting we get the time to connect with God and develop the discipline of following where he leads us. When we fast, we feed our souls the blessings of eternity, fasting helps us to reflect on our lives by looking back and analyze if the ways we are passing by are pleasing the Lord and it helps to understand God’s message and purpose in our lives. As we have seen it, developing our spiritual discipline does not mean that we have to withdraw from the community. Sometimes God gifts the community to help us to understand his purpose, we have seen it in the scripture that when two or more meets in the presence of Lord, The Lord comes to them. So being in the praying community can be the way of mastering our spiritual discipline.

The Power of Silence

Silence is the one the most powerful disciplines but sometimes we neglect it because we do not get the meaning. In silence, distractions lose the ability over us. Silence awakens the ability of self-awareness. Many people encountered God in quiet places not in noisy places. Moses was looking after his sheep and the Lord led him in a quiet bush to reveal the message to him. When God wanted to talk to Abraham, they talked in the quiet place. Jacob after he stole his brother’s blessings and ran away, Jacob had a dream where he encountered God on heaven’s gate. This is a message to show us the value of the silence. For us believers, silence is a powerful weapon in maintaining our spiritual discipline. Silence allow us to confess our inner sins. In silence that when we get the courage to express ourselves to God and confess all our sins to him. Silence allows us to examine our motives by reflecting on ourselves and evaluate if we are going in the right path or if we are being the best fruits to others. Silence helps us to understand, what to prioritize and what to not. By silence, we understand what is necessary and what pleases the Lord and prioritize living our lives in God’s will; Silence helps us to listen rather than speaking.

Silence does not mean we are distancing ourselves from our thoughts. It means reflecting on ourselves and learn what to say or not say. Silence helps in reshaping our spiritual discipline.

How Digital distraction impacts Spiritual discipline

We cannot say that the technology is the problem. The way we use technology is the problem. Sometimes technology can be used for the good purpose like spreading the truth and encouragement; it can be used in education and positive activism. The danger can be resulted from the amount of time we spend on internet for no reason. Normally we use the internet to refresh ourselves, But Honestly what are we benefiting from the internet. We give the internet the amount of time we cannot handle to give God. Spiritual discipline in this distracted digital world required boundaries.

·        Scheduled screen time; we have to track the time we spend on the internet because all comes from spending much time on internet is comparison, hatred and jealousy. The more we spend time on the internet; it limits our spiritual discipline development.

·        Devotion before digital engagement: First, we need to connect with God. When we engage with God, we develop our spiritual discipline in contrast of engaging in a digital world full of distractions.

·        Limiting unnecessary notification: sometimes there some notifications which has no impact or meaning on our lives but these notification can distract us and make us look focus when we were not even planning that, so it is necessary to limit some notifications we do not need to improve our focus.

·        Taking intentional digital breaks; taking breaks from our online platforms can help us to increase our focus and have some time to reflect on ourselves and prepare the time to pray and connect with God.

These are not rules to help us to be righteousness. They are the tools to increase our focus.

The Rule of the community

Personal discipline or spiritual discipline does not eliminate Communal growth and love. The community is like a room for improvement. In the community,we support each other and learn from our mistakes. The community helps us to understand our purpose. In the community, we do not carry our burdens alone. Worshiping as a community and Bible study strengthen individual practices. Community provides encouragement when we feel like give up or when we lose motivation. Community guards us against spiritual isolation, which sometimes leads to confusion. Community provides the place of emotional support, when we seem vulnerable. A loving community guards and correct the members in the way of righteousness. The community creates an environment to express ourselves, tell the truth, and seek for guidance. And all of this makes our spiritual discipline stronger.

Steps to follow to keep ourselves focused

1.      Avoiding using phone after waking up: That moment we take scrolling in our phones can be a distraction. Checking our phones in the morning can distract us from performing other daily activities and make us loose the focus.

2.      Establish consistent time for Prayer: As Jesus advises us to pray in private, it is good to have a time for praying every day and have a moment with God and connect with him.

3.      Reading the Bible more often: Instead of spending the whole day scrolling through our phones, finding a time to read the word of God can help us to increase our focus and fight all the digital distractions

4.      Set Digital Boundaries: It is good to set limits to our digital devices, because we saw that digital devices can spread distractions, setting digital boundaries and investing our time in meditation and praising can be a better way to increase our focus.

5.      Practicing Silence: Silence is a great weapon for staying focused. When we are silent we observe everything and learn from ourselves and this focus leads to spiritual discipline.

6.      Evaluating our spiritual growth: To stay focused it is important to know our level of spiritual growth. The more we evaluate ourselves we come to know where we are not doing well and try to improve.

Little by little, the steps can help us to shape our character as Christians.

The goal of spiritual discipline

The goal of spiritual discipline is not about being perfect. The goal of spiritual discipline is being present and focused. Discipline creates space for God in our lives. It trains us how to remain humble in this world full of pride. It teaches to stay still in the world full of distractions. Choosing silence in the world full of noise is an act of resistance. And that resistance will be repaid, God does not ignore that. Choosing prayers instead of scrolling is an act of surrendering all worldly distractions.  

CONCLUSION

Spiritual discipline in the world full of distractions is not ignoring our duties on earth. It understands how to behave in this world of many distractions. Discipline does not eliminate distractions. However, it gives us strengths to proceed whenever we face any distractions and helps us to understand what matters in the situation. Spiritual discipline is not about being over religious or perfect. It is about being self-reflective on our lives. In the world full of distractions and countless scrolling, choosing to focus on God is very powerful. We may think it as a small thing but that moment we spend quiet praying means something big. Spiritual discipline teaches us to open heart and listen and it builds a deep relation with God. Choosing focus is an act to spiritual maturity. And discipline is choosing God over the noise.