Tag: Jesus

Spiritual Formation is for Everyone

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Spiritual formation is not optional. Every thought you think, every emotion you let shape your behavior, every attitude you let rest in your body, every decision you make, each word you speak, every relationship you enter into, the habits that make up your days, whether or not you have social media (if you do, how you use it), how you respond to pain and suffering, how you handle failure or success–all these things and more are forming us into a particular shape. Stasis is not on the menu. We are either being transformed into the love and beauty of Jesus or malformed by the entropy of sin and death. . . To believe otherwise is an illusion; and to give no thought to this is to come dangerously close to wasting you life.

John Mark Comer, Practicing the Way: Be With Jesus, Become Like Him, Do As He Did, p. 71

John Mark Comer claims that spiritual formation is not optional. He is right. We’re all undergoing a spiritual formation.

This truth has given shape to my work. Spiritual formation courses are required under every degree plan at the seminary. I spend a lot of time with students talking about spiritual formation–what it is, why it matters, how it works, the difference it makes, and what it looks like when it is distinctly Christian.

We require these courses to draw attention to the fact that all ministers have received a spiritual formation, are undergoing a spiritual formation, and are becoming a particular kind of person. We ask, “Is the life you are now living leading you toward becoming more like Christ, or not?” This question is not only pertinent for those with a ministerial vocation, but for all people, inside and outside of Christian congregational fellowship.

We do not start from scratch. I often tell our students that they have been on the receiving end of formation and malformation. I assure them that God has already equipped them with much that is good through experiences of worship, fellowship, Bible study, service, prayer, meditation on God’s Word, and so on, as well as in interactions with God during the commonplace proceedings of daily life. Students easily agree that not all of their experiences have been positive. They have been wounded by others in the Christian community, some in very traumatic ways. Life in the wider world has also brought suffering and hardship, instances where it has been very difficult to discern or understand God’s action, or the seeming lack thereof.

This is not only true for students in the seminary. As Comer writes, this is true for us all. We would all benefit from careful reflection on the spiritual formation we have received, giving thanks for what is good and appropriately grieving what was wrong, thanking God for all that is praiseworthy and petitioning God for healing and restoration where wounds remain.

We would also benefit from reflection on where our current life trajectory is taking us. Do we possess a quiet confidence that we remain in step with the Holy Spirit, who is even now guiding us more fully toward conformity to Christ? Have we beheld Jesus, sharpening our vision of who he is and open to his instruction as our teacher and friend? Have we firmly fixed our heart upon the Father, deriving our ultimate sense of identity and belonging from an unshakeable conviction that we belong foremost to the family of God?

Are we taking daily steps to be “transformed into the love and beauty of Jesus?”

If you are not sure, ask God for help. God tends to respond to requests like these.

God’s grace is abundant in supply, and those who seek God will surely find him. Spiritual formation is for everyone. It is ongoing. It is happening. Where will yours take you? Toward God? Or toward something else?

A few are bent on hell. Most are simply adrift. But some have begun to walk the Way of Jesus with Jesus, who is the Way. His invitation remains open to all: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Christ offers to lead you personally. That’s quite an offer. Is there one better?

The Transforming Power of the Cross

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[W]e don’t need to understand every atonement theory to know the transforming power of the Cross. Its undeniable power to transform us is a simple fact, confirmed by human experience.

A Catholic archbishop described how three mischievous teenage boys decided to play a trick on their local priest. While he was hearing confessions one day, they took turns going into the confessional and admitting to doing all sorts of fantastic things that they had made up.

A young boy volunteered to be the first one. However, the priest was not to be fooled and said to him, “I want you to make this penance for what you have done. Go to the front of the church, to the cross on which Jesus hangs, look Jesus in the face, and say three times, “All this you did for me, and I don’t give a damn.”

The teenager did it once, twice, and then, when he began repeating the sentence a third time, broke down in tears, and his words simply became, “You did this for me.” He left the church facing a new direction.

When the archbishop finished the story, he said, “The reason I know this is that I was that young man.”†

Trevor Hudson, Seeking God: Finding Another Kind of Life with St. Ignatius and Dallas Willard, p. 133-134

The way of Christ is the way of the Cross. In Luke 9:23, Jesus said, ““Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”

But before we take up our cross, it is helpful to recall Jesus took up his. He carried his cross and died upon it for us.

Why?

Love.

The love of Christ displayed in the Cross has the power to turn us around, to transform us, to renew us, to embolden us, and to empower us. It is a reminder of our calling to die daily, to share in the sufferings of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:31, 1 Peter 4:12-19).

What moves us to respond to this call? “You did this for me,” as Jean-Marie Lustiger discovered. Or as Paul wrote, “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

How do we keep this before us? By actively bringing the story of the Cross to our minds, by thinking carefully and at length about God’s action at Calvary. We return to the Gospels. We read the accounts.

Hudson recommends being reminded by way of symbol. We can place a small cross at our desk, on the dresser, in a pocket, some place where we will see, touch, and encounter it, thus being reminded of the Cross.

The reminder is twofold. First, Christ loves you with a costly love. And second, Christ calls you to cross-carrying discipleship. Ephesians 5:1-2 says: “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

Walk in the way of love. It is the way of the Cross.

_______________________
† Hudson’s citation: “The boy’s name was Jean-Marie Lustiger. He was admitted to the Catholic church the following Easter. And he became the Cardinal Archbishop of Paris. True story. He died on August 5th, 2007”; “You Did That for me?” Father Paul’s Homily Blog, March 28, 2010, http://frpaulhomilies.blogspot.com/2010/03/you-did-that-for-me.html.

Our Greatest Cross to Bear: “Self”

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We must bear our crosses; self is the greatest of them; we are not entirely rid of it until we can tolerate ourselves as simply and patiently as we do our neighbor.

If we die in part every day of our lives, we shall have but little to do on the last.

What we so much dread in the future will cause us no fear when it comes, if we do not suffer its terrors to be exaggerated by the restless anxieties of self-love.

Bear with yourself, and consent in all lowliness to be supported by your neighbor.

O how utterly will these little daily deaths destroy the power of the final dying!

François Fénelon (Source: Jonathan Bailey’s The Inward Odyssey Substack Newsletter)

It’s the daily dying that gets me. It can be so unpleasant! And it is much easier to think of our crosses as something external to us, like an illness, or physical suffering, or a person who annoys us or gives us trouble, than it is to think of our greatest cross as the one thing we have with us no matter what we suffer and no matter where we go: ourselves.

But François Fénelon is correct. If we die to ourselves each day, all that will be left is the small, final step from physical death to the fuller, more complete experience of eternal life that is had when a person in Christ passes from the earthly to the heavenly realm.

The little, daily deaths are worth dying. Learning to die them is part and parcel of the spiritual journey. The school in which we learn to die them is the school of Jesus Christ, who not only calls us to this kind of cross bearing, but who preceded us on the way.

A Thought on Christmas Day

jesus christ figurine
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In the New International Version, John 1:18 reads:

No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

If you click the link to the verse, you’ll see parallels in the KJV, NLT, and ESV. Michael F. Bird notes the interpretative difficulties this verse presents due to the presence of one Greek verb: exēgeomai. Bird writes:

The Greek word behind “made known”, “explained”, and “revealed” is the verb ἐξηγέομαι/exēgeomai which means “to set forth in great detail, expound” often with respect to “divine secrets” and “divine beings” (BDAG).

Aussie biblical scholar, Colin Kruse comments that, “The evangelist is saying, then, that the Word (Jesus), being God the one and only, at the Father’s side, the only one who has seen God, has ‘expounded’ him, made him known, through his person, words and works.”

Jesus, as God-in-the-flesh, is the exegesis or exposition of God.

God is made known through, in, and as Jesus.

Jesus is God with a human face.

Jesus is God with us and God for us.

Christmas is when we remember how God has exegeted himself in the person of Jesus, so that we never forget that God is love (1 John 4:8) and light (1 John 1:5) because we see the light and love of Jesus.

I know there are many people who have trouble imagining God, connecting to God, or thinking about what God is like. Look at Jesus. Even if you are a person of faith and you think you know everything about him, look at Jesus. On this day, behold the manger. In the days ahead, behold the fullness of his story. You won’t only find a God who becomes vulnerable as a child. You will find a God who becomes vulnerable on a cross. You will find a God who teaches, heals, comforts, and challenges. You will find a God who conquers death and bursts forth from the tomb: a resurrected and resurrecting God. You will find a God who cajoles and invites. You will find a tender God, a bold God. You will find a God of mercy and justice. You will find a God who meets you in the broad experiences of life and brings the fullness of deity, for Christ not only drew near to us and expounded for us the divine life, he lived before us a truly human life, the kind of life with God for which we are intended.

Merry Christmas. Remember, paradoxically, we are not only called and urged to seek God, and in the seeking discover finding. We are reminded this day that God has come in Christ and found us. Found you.

Was Pumped to Find This One

I’ve seen a few Jesus memes down through the years. Came across this one this week, which was brand new to me. Filled me with holy laughter.

And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the whey, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.

Isaiah 30:21

Stick with Gold Standard. This is the whey.

Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the whey of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John.

Acts 18:24-25

Undoubtedly Apollos was also quite buff.

And asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Whey, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

Acts 9:2

Paul had absolutely no hope of bringing those men and women in bound.

But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Whey before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus.

Acts 19:9

Paul left those puny naysayers to their own devices.

About that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the Whey.

Acts 19:23

Demetrius, a silversmith in Ephesus, was insanely jealous of the gains being made by the apostles, and thus stirred up a riot against them.

Commit your whey to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.

Psalm 37:5

The Lord is my strength and my shield.

They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.”

But I prayed, “Now strengthen my hands.”

Nehemiah 6:9

Didn’t change that one.

Lord, hear my prayer.

A Way of Love, Joy, and Peace

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There is an emotional and even spiritual weight to life; we all feel it, especially as we age. An easy life is a myth, if not a red herring–the by-product of an advertising-drenched and social media-duped culture. Life is hard. Full stop. No comma, no but, no endnote. All the wise men and women of history have said as much; no new technology of substance or pill will ever erase humanity’s fall. Best-case scenario, we mitigate its effects as we advance Jesus’ return. But there’s no escaping the pain.

Why do you think there’s so much addiction in our world? No just substance abuse but more run-of-the-mill addictions to porn or sex or eating or dieting or exercise or work or travel or shopping or social media or even church?

And yet, even church can be an addiction, a dopamine hit you run toward to escape a father wound or emotional pain or an unhappy marriage…but that’s another book.

People all over the world–outside the church and in–are looking for an escape, a way out from under the crushing weight to life this side of Eden. But there is no escaping it. The best the world can offer is a temporary distraction to delay the inevitable or deny the inescapable.

That’s why Jesus doesn’t offer us an escape. He offers us something far better: “equipment.” He offers his apprentices a whole new way to bear the weight of our humanity: with ease. At this side. Like two oxen in a field, tied should to should. With Jesus doing all the heavy lifting. At this pace. Slow, unhurried, present to the moment, full of love and joy and peace.

An easy life isn’t an option; an easy yoke it.

John Mark Comer, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry [affiliate link], p. 87-88

Jesus not only offers us “equipment.” He offers us himself. And he not only offers us himself in his incarnation and on the cross, or from his place at the right hand of the Father, or from heaven. He lives “in” his disciples. Our life is hidden with Christ in God, even as we are called to “put on” or “clothe” ourselves in Christ.

Comer is playing here with Matthew 11:29-30, driving home the notion that we must join our life to Jesus’ life, we must walk in step with him as his students, apprentices, and disciples, and learn his way. I’m leading a retreat this weekend, and this book will serve as grounds for discussion. We will explore the spiritual disciplines of solitude and silence, Sabbath, simplicity, and slowing. Notice, in all of these disciplines, all of life must be ordered in such a way that creates space for their keeping and observance. They require ordering and differentiation. They necessitate clear choices and make more plain the pace, narratives, and commitments of the everyday culture and habits of life that subvert, compete with, and challenge the pace, story, and way of life in the kingdom of God.

In Disciples Indeed, Oswald Chambers wrote, “I have no right to say I believe in God unless I order my life as under His all-seeing Eye.” The gospel we often preach focuses on life in the world to come. But the good news of Christ is not only concerned with what’s next. It has implications for life as it is lived today. Following Jesus will not make life easier in the immediate. In some ways, it may make it harder, at least in the short term. But in the long run, faith in Jesus is wisdom, not only for the resources that will be near at hand for this life as a citizen in his kingdom, but for the ways in which it will prepare us to serve in God’s great universe in the coming world without end. Our souls are made for eternity. Apprenticeship to Jesus prepares us for all that eternity will hold, not only for lasting fellowship with God, but for service.

My Chief Care

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My chief care should not be to find pleasure or success, health or life or money or rest or even things like virtue and wisdom–still less their opposites, pain, failure, sickness, and death. But in all that happens, my one desire and my one joy should be to know: “Here is the thing that God has willed for me. In this His love is found, and in accepting this I can give back His love to Him and give myself with it to Him. For in giving myself I shall find Him and He is life everlasting.”

By consenting to His will with joy and doing it with gladness I have His love in my heart, because my will is now the same as His love and I am on the way to becoming what He is, Who is Love. And by accepting all things from Him I receive His joy into my soul, not because things are what they are but because God is Who He is, and His love has willed my joy in them all.

Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation, p. 17-18

Yes. But it can be hard to do.

It becomes easier when one obtains a clear, compelling, truthful, robust, rich, more-fully-comprehensive, sought-after, earnest, biblically-shaped, experientially-informed vision of God. Merton writes the above because he possessed such a vision, a vision of the God “Who is Love,” revealed as Trinity, one God, three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Yielding to God and actualizing the divine will becomes an “easy yoke,” to use imagery from Jesus, when one knows intellectually and existentially that God is out for our ultimate good in any and every circumstance in which we find ourselves.

How do we get there? How does it become easier to make my chief care “the thing God has willed for me?” Thinking on God is a beginning. Having thought, and entering a place of worship, not only points us toward our destination. It is itself the path. We do not only make this or that decision as a sacrifice or offering to God. We ourselves become the living sacrifices who are by grace transformed into the image and likeness of the Christ, who leads us in the doing of God’s good, pleasing, and perfect will.

It is one thing to know the good. It is quite another to become the kind of person who is able to do the thing God has willed. In Christ, becoming the latter is our invitation and opportunity, opened to us by virtue of the resources made available to us by Jesus, presented to us in his kingdom.