People are mostly concerned whether we have done something and neglected the part about how we do something. Both parts are equally important. For instance, besides asking ourselves whether we have loved someone, we also need to ask ourselves how we are loving that person. Some assume that it is all right as long as they have started doing something. But if we neglect the part about how we are doing it, we may actually get a negative result. For example, our children may know that we love them and do things for them, but they are going to feel it if we do so unwillingly or grudgingly.
I share this because this is a very important lesson in spiritual formation. We do so many spiritual things every week. We assume that we are all right. We assume that we would grow. But we don’t,  why is this so? This is because we only focus on doing something and neglect how things are done. Concerning prayer, we may be praying everyday but the prayers did not make us more Christ-like. Why? It’s because we only know how to pray for the things we want, the needs we have and the problems we need to solve. We might not have prayed for others and for ourselves to have greater faith or to be more obedient to God. We end up having a lot of self-centred prayers which will only make us more demanding, from God and our friends.
Concerning Bible reading, we might have read the Bible everyday, but how we read it is important. Do we read the Bible just to satisfy the questions we have or also to know God better in the process? Some people just read the Bible to feel good. But in reality, reading the Bible do make us feel uneasy because we are confronted with our sins and wrong mindsets we are holding to. We are challenged to be transformed.
The list goes on. This applies to our service, fellowship, worship and cell group as well. It is good that we start doing something but do not stop there. Pay attention to how we do things too. It is this process of ‘how’ that really helps us to grow in the Lord. It is not about how long we have been doing those things.
Pursue authentic Christian living, not a superficial one. We might have done many things. But what good is it if it is a prayer without discernment, a Bible devotion without depth, a service without devotion, a fellowship without edification and a cell group without feeding?
These things are happening in the church today. We need to restore the ‘ancient paths’ of God, especially when in the last days, Jesus said that our hearts would turn cold. It is time that we awaken the church so that we may guard our hearts with all diligence.