Rule of Life

from http://www.mustardseedorder.com/cm/home/9

Many of the men and women God has used most powerfully over the last two thousand years in every Christian tradition have lived according to a Rule of Life. Sometimes their Rule was not explicit, but more often, it was set out carefully and followed diligently. Some of these saints developed their own Rules, while others pledged themselves to existing Orders and communities.

Rules have been the heartbeat of life for many of those we esteem the most:
for saints from St. Francis of Assisi to Mother Teresa,
for great leaders from John Wesley to William Booth,
for great preachers from Charles Finney to Billy Graham,
for mystics from Teresa of Avilla to Thomas Merton,
for theologians from Augustine to Bonhoeffer.
All these people (and countless others in every walk of life) came to a critical moment in their lives when they chose to make a covenant, to follow a spiritual Rule of Life that would serve them as a compass, a metronome, and a plumb line for every other thing they did from that day onwards.

In the light of such an impressive list of advocates, it is surprising that so few Evangelicals and Charismatics currently practice this powerful tool for personal growth and a deeper walk with Jesus.