Like mastering a musical instrument, excelling in a sport, or any other thing that requires steady discipline and practice, becoming a more Christ-like person is an ongoing challenge for Christians. So, let’s practice! Kris offers Romans 12:9-21 and a tool called the Rule of Life to help organize your spiritual chaos as you engage in your Christian practice.

Other scriptures that might help you organize your Rule of Life:

Galatians 5:22-23, 2 Peter 1:5-7, 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

A note on the “Seven Deadly Sins.” They’re not actually listed anywhere in scripture! Sure, they show up time and again, but there’s no list. The “seven deadly sins” were originally based on a list of eight principal vices developed in the fourth century C.E. by the mystic Evagrius Ponticus, whose work inspired the writings of monk and ascetic John Cassian. In the sixth century, Pope Gregory I changed Cassian’s list of eight vices into the list of seven deadly, or cardinal, sins of Roman Catholic theology: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, anger, and sloth. Gregory viewed these as capital, or principal, sins in that many other sins came from them. Kris mentioned them in as much as their opposites (humility, generosity, integrity, gratitude, self-control, forgiveness, and fruitfulness) might offer inspiration for other rules of life.

Here’s the link to the C.S. Lewis Institute’s guideline for developing a Rule of Life.

Here’s the podcast episode about different spiritual types.

Here’s the link to the Corinne D. Ware survey so you can think about your own spiritual type.

Here’s the Kaiser Permanente Find Your Thing commercial.

Here’s the New York Times article about the falling in love experiment: To Fall in Love with Anyone, Do This. Here’s the original study.

Here’s the Big Bang Theory episode about the love experiment.