May 3, 2026
Famous 19th century evangelist, DL Moody was confronted by someone after one of his rallies.
‘Mr Moody, I don’t like your method of evangelism’ he cried.
‘Sorry to hear that. What is yours?’ Moody asked.
‘I don’t have one’.
‘I like mine better’ Moody retorted.
Structures and methods are not the goal, but, like scaffolding, very important on the way to putting up a building and making a home.
So what is your structure for growing in the love of God and others?
In his book The Ruthless Elimination Of Hurry, John Mark Comer advances the theory that the enemy of the spiritual life is hurry. In this, he follows the great teacher of the spiritual disciplines, Dallas Willard.
When Comer talks about hurry, he means not simply busyness: rather, hurry as a gnawing sense that there is always more to do; a life spent hurtling oneself through each day; a schedule that makes little room for God. Comer calls the modern world ‘a virtual conspiracy against the interior life,’ and urges readers to reclaim their focus from the algorithm and shift it toward God.
In his most recent book, Practicing the Way: Be with Jesus. Become Like Him. Do as He Did, Comer encourages readers to incorporate nine of Jesus’s habits into their lives: scripture reading, service, keeping the Sabbath, solitude, prayer, fasting, community, witness, and generosity. These are the trellis upon which the life in Christ is grown: that means slowing down and leaning into the habits that Jesus lived by. It is the eighth of these nine habits that we will look at in our short course on witness beginning in the next couple of weeks.
As many of you realise, I am appreciative of his approach. It brings into the 21st century a way of framing and structuring into our lives the great practices of the faith that have served saints for millennia. If you are a little skeptical or would like to find out a bit more before diving in, a theologian in Sydney has written a series of easy to read blogs on Comer’s approach that you may be interested in (https://rodbenson.com/2026/02/22/what-would-jesus-say-about-practicing-the-way/)
One final thought:
We need some kind of method or structure for becoming like Jesus because it doesn’t ‘just happen’.
So what’s your method – and is it working?
Julian Holdsworth
BSBC Pastor
