Keswick Burnout

If you have been depressed lately over the quality of your spiritual life, you need to read this. The Assembly was built on Keswick theology. (Maybe you didn't know that the Assembly hymn book, Hymns and Spiritual Songs, was the official Keswick hymnal with other songs added by GG.) Here is a must read by Andy Naselli on Keswick Theology: A Survey and Analysis of the Doctrine of Sanctification in the Early Keswick Movement.

Also see Tom Maddux's excellent article, FAQ's on Overcomer Teaching.

Readers' Comments

June 3, 2008, Dave Sable: After listening to some lectures, here is what is working for me now:

For me, I no longer think of Christian spirituality in terms of striving towards a perfect state of being. I no longer think that, “If only I just______(fill in the blank – reckon my self dead, crucify self, be filled with Christ, master Romans 6, pray more, read my Bible more, deny self, fast, etc.), I will arrive.”

This illustration is how I think of things now (I don’t know if it is technically accurate but it is still a good illustration): When a commercial jet is going from point A to point B, it is off course 80% of the time. With wind and heat changes, the jet slightly drifts from its course. The pilot, however, sends a signal every couple of minutes and constantly corrects its course.

To me, this illustrates my Christian spirituality. It isn’t that I never have some really stinky ideas in my head or I don’t react in poor ways. I do drift off course constantly. But as I learn more about God as well as learn about myself, I find that I am able to make course corrections sooner so that I don’t get so far off that I start really making a huge mess of things.

I will never be perfect, per se, in this life. But the spiritual tools and disciplines that I have been given (meditation, prayer, confession, making amends, journaling, teaching, fellowship, communion, etc.) help me correct my course.