The Joys of Piety!

Reading time: two minutes.

I like the twists and turns of that phrase, “the joys of piety.”  It’s from the subtitle of William Weedon’s “Thank and Praise, Serve and Obey: Recover the Joys of Piety.”  You might ask, “What joys of piety?”  When I think of piety and when I think of joy, my mind tends to wander off in different directions, even opposite directions, but Will is really onto something here.

A lifestyle of discipline and faithfully journeying according to the Lord’s direction is not drudgery and a burden.  As a follower of Jesus grows in maturity, discovering along the way that Jesus has our best interests in mind, it’s like realizing that your parents’ wisdom about life was pretty good advice.

I like a couple more things about his discussion of the faith walk, especially as it relates to joy.  Read on!

Weedon calls the way of following Jesus as growing into the “habits which befit the household of God.”  I like how he says that.  It’s like growing into your own skin, or a adolescent growing into his foot size.  

I remember how awkward and clumsy I felt when I shot up to six foot three over what seemed like a few short months.  The basketball coaches were pretty excited, until they watched the way I tripped over my size 12 Chuck Taylor Converse All-Stars in practice.  It was awfully frustrating for me, too, because I knew I had advantages over the other guys, but I just couldn’t move around in the enormous clown shoes.

It turns out I was suited for the basketball court, I just had to “develop the habits which befit the game.”  I worked the drills that seemed so much like work until the footwork became natural, a truer expression of who I really was, the tallest guy on the team, and then basketball became a tremendous joy.

We were made by God and remade in Christ for a life of worship and study and devotion and prayer and service and meditation, none of which come naturally, but all of which are gifts of God the Holy Spirit.

Weedon says that our Christian piety, the life of a disciple, “grows from baptism.”  That’s it!  Our spiritual disciplines are not so much what we do, but who we are!

At Grace Place Wellness, we talk about Baptismal Wellness as a matter of Identity, finding our true selves in the love and grace of God, in what He does for us.  We respond by becoming who He made us to be, sometimes clumsily tripping over our own feet, but day by day more naturally as life with God, abiding in His promises, relying on His gifts, receiving His goodness, we experience the joy of the Christian walk.

Those are the joys of piety.  Rest in His mercy.  Receive His good gifts.  Walk faithfully as He leads.  Rejoice in His call and His promises.

Thanks for reading.

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