“The purpose of the disciplines is freedom. Our aim is the freedom, not the Discipline. The moment we make the discipline our central focus, we turn it into law and lose the corresponding freedom. The disciplines are for the purpose of realizing a greater good. In and of themselves they are of no value whatever. They have value only as a means of setting us before God so that he can give us the liberation we seek. The liberation is the end; the Disciplines are merely the means. They are not the answer; they only lead us to the Answer [Jesus].”

Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 111.