Spiritual Vitality Fall 1988

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I am a Type B. My clothes lie scattered around the hamper. I forget to make the bed (I'm often the last one out of it). My cars need to be washed. My office looks like it has been nuked.

Psychologists tell us a Type A personality is ambitious, aggressive, organized, impatient, and highly disciplined. A Type B is easygoing, noncompetitive, relaxed, and at peace with his surroundings. Virginia Price, in Psychology Today, summed up the relationship between the two: "Lots of Type A's think of Type B's as slovenly failures."

Guess what? Lots of us Type B's feel like slovenly failures. We know the "shoulds" of a disciplined Christian life, but we can't seem to maintain them.

As a Type B and a pastor, I often wonder: Can I have a vibrant spiritual life? Or do I have to become a Type A? In other words, does spiritual maturity depend upon my getting dirty socks into, not near, the hamper? Does sanctification mean a disciplined, daily, devotional regimen?

The Type A defines a vibrant devotional life in terms of chapters read, verses memorized, journal pages written, and minutes (or hours) spent in prayer, preferably before dawn. Without belittling these practices, I ask myself if this is a complete definition. I don't think so.

Spiritual vibrancy is not something you do; it is something you are. Time with God is crucial for spiritual health, but vibrancy is based on how we live, not simply on acts we perform every morning.

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In Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster explains, "The disciplines allow us to place ourselves before God so that he can transform us." Isn't that the essence of devotional life? Aren't we seeking to be in the presence of God and changed by that encounter? Foster lists twelve broad ...

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