Last week I posted on John Beadle, the English Puritan who wrote the first book on journal keeping as a spiritual discipline back in 1656.
It is an odd book — Beadle could have used a good editor.
It is also a wise book — he has excellent advice that can make journaling a fantastic way to begin to see God at work in your life and the world.
It is a tad hard to find these days. Lucky for you I include a chapter of it in The Kneeling with Giants Reader — the free companion volume of primary source material that comes with your e-book version of Kneeling with Giants.
If you are one of the many who don’t like journaling because you just don’t know what to write, here is John Beadle’s first practical assignment:
“1. Let every man keep a strict account of his effectuall [sic] calling, and of his age in Christ; and (if it may be) set down the time when, the place where, and the person by whom he was converted.”
Okay, what the heck is “effectual calling”? That was a big step in the process of salvation in Puritan thinking.
- “Calling” may be obvious: God calls to you with the good news of Jesus Christ. The call goes out far and wide.
- “Effectual” is more difficult: The Holy Spirit works in your heart so that you can respond with faith. The call becomes effective and we become Christians.
So if you have come to a place where you have faith, Beadle says you should spend some time writing about how you got there.
- For some there is a story of dramatic change — absolutely self-destructive life followed by radical conversion.
- For some there is a story of being steeped in the faith — they never knew life without Jesus.
- For still others the story has lots of twists and turns — following, running away, forgetting to bother, and following again.
We all got to faith somehow. We need to write about the seasons, or events, or people who helped us grow. If we write them down we will actually remember them. We will notice that God was at work, drawing us close and building us up.
God is always working in us and around us. Most of us don’t take the time to look.
Why is journal keeping a secret to seeing God at work? Writing down the stories makes you pay attention.
So what about you?
If you are a Christian have you every written down the stories of how God helped you come to faith?
If you struggle with faith, have you ever written down the story of your own doubts? Your agnosticism? Your atheism? You’ve had a journey to get where you are. Who knows? Maybe you’ll find God was at work along the way.
I hope you’ll give it a try. I hope you’ll share one key discovery in the comments!
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Hey Gary – Thanks for these thoughts. Here’s language that I sometimes struggle with. “He’s saved” or “I was converted on January 1979.” Is that a right way to think about our stories? The language almost seems to support an “us vs them” mentality. Are we saved on a specific date and time, or is it more complex than that? Perhaps we were saved, are being saved, and one day will eventually be saved.
Can you help me better think through this? Thanks for your wisdom!
Thanks for posting this comment, Matt.
Those kinds of terms can have many different emphases, some of which I’m comfortable with and some of which I’m not.
There are a lot of people who can point to a particular moment before which they did not have Christian faith, and after which they did — or before which they did not follow Jesus, and after which they did. Whether that’s St. Paul, St. Augustine, or someone today people call it “conversion.”
A lot of other people, myself included, can’t point to any such moment. I was raised in the church, and grew to conscious active faith and discipleship over a period of a couple years. No dramatic moment — just a vague zone of change.
Still others simply don’t have any time to point to when they did not love and trust God.
So I’m not troubled by some having a conversion to point to. What troubles me is when people assume that someone with no such moment is not a Christian.
I think you are right, and have biblical language to point to on the past, present, and future aspects of “being saved.” For some it is a shorthand for conversion. Sometimes, though, it is a catchphrase with far less meaning.
These are a few musings before rushing out the door. Happy to say more if you want to continue the conversation!
Hi Gary, I was pleasantly surprised to find your post- I’m new to WordPress. I am a journal Keeper and lover of the way God uses this medium as a ways for me to be closer to Him while also sharing the gift of these daily discoveries with God- being writing as a form of worship, prayer, outreach, spiritual disciplne, I have written on my former blog, my pen, God’s heart…each month I host a meet up of fellow journall keepers who share such insights along their own spiritual journey. I for one am extremely candid with GOd(hey he knows it all anyway) and never inetended to share these writings, but actually have been sharing them at my blogger site for the past couple of years! Nice post, and nice to meet you!
Thanks Dawn! Great to have you stopping by. Nice to meet you too.
Just took a glance at your blog and zapped you an email before realizing you’d left a comment here. Fun to hear about your journal keepers’ meet-up. Do keep in touch!