Keith Farmer, a mentor to Australian pastors, believes that unless we can stem the flow of adrenalin periodically, the wear and tear on each of the key areas of our life, faith and ministry (spiritual, emotional, intellectual and physical) will open up the probability of running low on resources. He goes on to say “to attain and maintain a ‘quiet centre’ is now a central issue for me.” We need to spend more time with God.
Sometimes our walk with God is difficult. The Corps Officer of the Box Hill Corps, Major Greg Morgan, made a resonating point when he said, “Nothing robs us of the joy of our salvation more than simply taking it for granted.” Sometimes this happens in subtle ways; we may go through the motions of ‘Church’ but we leave the Bible tucked in a draw at home. We lack the discipline.
We all know people who for one reason or another walked away from God. “I got into a relationship with the wrong person”; “I developed an addiction”; “I got a promotion”; “I brought a new business”; “I did a lot of travelling, and worked on weekends”. It was not that they accidently walked away, rather they chose a path that led away from a healthy walk with God. It would seem that they sought stimulation and adrenalin over relationship.
While some people who are far from God seem to be happy, at least for a season, that may largely be due to not having anything different to contrast with. But those who once experienced the closeness of God, the richness of His love, and the feeling of what it is like to daily journey with Him, in walking away they cannot ignore the gnawing feeling that something is lost, and missing. Even the joy and excitement that the world offers them, seems like a mist, or strangely empty.
I cannot help think that those who once knew the goodness of God and walked away resulted from not adequately developing their walk with Him.
The great philosopher G.K. Chesterton adds “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried”. The world is full of stimulation, lights, and temptations and the grass seems greener over the other side, but when we taste it, we find it lacking in substance that nourishes our soul. The stimulation quickly loses its novelty and does not hit the mark.
While a walk with God maybe difficult amongst the stimulation of this life, it is entirely possible to enjoy a deeply connecting life with God that is rich, daily refreshing, and soul satisfying, a life that is holy and stimulates us in a pure and exciting manner. But there is a work that we need to participate in.
The word ‘Saved’, in reference to spiritual salvation, is a word held in a present-continuous tense. Gary Moon in the Conversations journal suggests that John 3:16 is not simply a passage about forgiveness from the cross; rather it is a passage about receiving life from above—from God. Forgiveness is the door through which we walk that leads into a healthy relationship with our creator God. Once we have owned up to our current spiritual state and attitude, sought forgiveness, and the infilling leadership of God for the future, we begin a journey, a spiritual formation, where we go on being saved, (holiness), where Christ is being formed in us.
Peter Weymouth, an Australian who served in Zambia with his family, recently wrote of his journey in an article in On-Fire where he spoke of his hunger to see what God wants to do for people through him, and his recognition that Jesus lives in him for a purpose. He goes on to say, ‘At present God is cleaning me up—healing me and softening my heart to Him in a big way… I notice that I am becoming more patient at home… I am really looking forward to seeing what God has in store and the amazing ways He expresses His love.’ Peter’s story speaks of his experience of Christ being formed within him, a spiritual formation.
The fact of the human soul is that we are always becoming a certain type of person, and a way we can think about Spiritual Formation is as a lifelong process. It is helpful to think of the human soul as represented by a line, and with the understanding that over time we are always becoming a certain type of person. One’s whole life is always a process of Spiritual Formation.
When we accept the claims of Christ for ourselves, and become a follower of Jesus Christ, we find that our life destination is no longer random and left up to the whims of whatever maybe happening in our lives at any given time. The scripture tell us that we are being formed into the image of Christ. It could be said that the Holy Spirit begins a renovation work within us.
When we come to God through the redemption available through the cross, we don’t finish there; the cross is not the completion of the work, but the access to the transforming work of the Holy Spirit within our lives. Phil 1:6, and Galatians 4:19 speak of this work that continues until the day of ‘Christ Jesus’(appears).
We are being made in the likeness of Christ, openly being marked by the characteristic of Love, we have an increased capacity of love for others. Love is the first fruit that displays that God is present in our lives, that He is changing us and that we are being formed in the image of Christ, ultimately marked by love. That is the first work that takes place as we journey with God. Dallas Willard describes Spiritual formation as the process of reshaping or redeveloping our lives until it has, to a substantial degree, the character of the inner dimension of Jesus himself.
The second thing is very important as well, and that is this. Once we are in a relationship with Christ, the Holy Spirit indwells each one of us, and while this is difficult to explain, we know it to be true. So now from the inside, the Holy Spirit is expending effort. The top arrow in the diagram represents the effort that is expended by God the Holy Spirit.
Effort by the creator God of the universe, helping us in this process of forming into the image of Christ.
In Philippians 1:6, we find Paul writing to the young Church in that city and he is telling them, “that they should be confident that He who began a good work in their lives, will carry it through to completion.” So the God who created the beauty of the natural world as we enjoy it, is now actively working to restore our broken lives into the image of Himself. That is the effort that God brings to our lives, but what about us, is there effort that we bring in this process, if we are going to be moving forward?
Intuitively we know there is a part for us to play, that there is effort that we bring to work-out our Salvation. Again Paul writes in the same book, to the same group of people. “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil his good purpose”. Phil 2:12-13 (NIV) “…to work out your Salvation.”
It is important for us to understand that Paul is not saying to work for our salvation, for that has already been settled at the cross when we began trusting Him. But we still need to work it out, to press it through into all the different dimensions of our life. The Grace that has been planted in our lives takes a lifetime of work for that to be expressed in all the different parts of who we are.
Paul encouraged the Philippians, and also us “continue to work out our salvation” (NIV). Once Grace has been planted in our lives, it takes a lifetime for us to work out our salvation, to express this Salvation in all the different parts of our lives. How we relate, how we handle our finances, how we do emotionally, all those things. Being saved (coming to faith) is the first step on this journey, it is not the destination. The bottom arrow depicts the effort that we expend.
So what then is the work that we do?
That is the role of classic spiritual practices; a box could be used to depict effort in these spiritual practices.
Spiritual practices or disciplines are something that I do, and something that you can do, that carves out time and space, so we can pay attention to the ongoing work of God in our lives. How does that happen? Well spiritual practices can happen in many settings where we are challenged by Scripture and the Holy Spirit. This can happen in:
• Large group settings such as, worship services, or conferences, where we have the opportunity to worship, and where we hear others teaching and explaining the claims of Christ from Scripture.
• Small group settings or interpersonal settings such as Bible study cells, focus groups, mentorship or over coffee with a friend.
• The final area, and these are very important as well, is in the area of our individual core practices, where we meet with God alone, Uno to Uno.
Robert Mulholland Jr also helps our understanding with his definition; ‘Spiritual formation is a process of being conformed to the image of Christ for the sake of others.’ He goes on to say, ‘When spirituality is viewed as a journey, the way to spiritual wholeness is seen to lie in an increasingly faithful response to the One whose purpose shapes our path, whose grace redeems our detours, whose power liberates us from crippling bondages of the prior journey and whose transforming presence meets us at each turn in the road. In other words, holistic spirituality is a pilgrimage of deeping responsiveness to God’s control of our life and being.’
In conclusion a valid question that maybe asked is this, ‘Is real transformation for real people possible?’ In this world of hyper-stimulation, is it possible to live a life that allows for engagement with the world, while still walking with God in a transformational life? The answer is a glorious YES, but the truth is that many don’t take up the opportunity to create space for this to happen.
James Bryan Smith in the book The good and beautiful God suggest that spiritual disciplines are not unlike the disciplines of an athlete, ‘Athletes understand the necessities of training. They run and lift weights and practice over and over so that they can perform naturally, easily and with strength in completion. We engage in soul-training exercises so as to change how we live.’ Just as an athlete undergoes physical therapy with stretches and limb lifts to improve their ability, we practice soul-training exercises. We do the same even if it hurts because we want to improve how we function. They are an essential part of our soul-transformation.
Though God is always at work, our ability to discern His voice can be hindered by the many voices that speak into us, and the stimulations that we daily receive. God is constantly speaking to us, but our ability to hear is dubbed down.
We need to be authentic, courageous and disciplined, tempered with the knowledge that Grace is given for those who seek it. We need to step out of the dark and live in the light of what is true about us allowing God to transform us. For we only change what we bring into the light, and remain trapped by that what we keep in the dark.
I am on a journey in understanding spiritual and Christian formation. I share these thoughts about spiritual disciplines so you may join in the journey.
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