Do your best not to reduce spiritual practices to checklists.
Pray. Read the Bible. Go to church. Serve others. These activities, what we would also call means of grace, matter deeply to our growing in grace and faith. But they are not just religious tasks to complete. They are habits that shape your heart. Think of it like this: What you repeatedly do forms what you love, and what you love ultimately shapes who you become.
J. Robert Douglass writes that a spiritual habit “perfects what we love.” That helps change the way we think about spiritual practices. In that way, prayer is not only about saying the right words to God. Worship is not only about attending a service. Reflection is not only about quiet moments of thought. These practices slowly train our desires. And, over time, they begin to align our hearts with God's heart.
Lately, I've been reflecting on this in relation to church ministry and leadership.
In ministry, it is easy to focus on strategy, productivity, and skill development. Those things have value, of course, but they are not the foundation of faithful leadership. Faithful leadership flows from the condition of the soul. A pastor or ministry leader who spends time in the presence of God begins to love what God loves and care about whom God cares about, and does so in ways that mirror God’s love. That kind of formation shapes every conversation, decision, and act of service.
All this changes leadership from simple task management into something deeper. It becomes leadership marked by compassion, wisdom, courage, and justice. The goal is not simply to become more efficient leaders, but more faithful ones.
So, take time to consider how the spiritual practices you return to day after day are quietly forming you. Through God's Spirit, they are shaping your desires, your loves, and ultimately the kind of person you become. There's no question whether you are being formed, but what is forming you most.
Stay blessed...john
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