As I continue on my journey with the Lord and seek to be transformed more into Christ, I have taken a keen interest in spiritual formation. It is important for me to think about those disciplines that can help shape me. There are many things that can transform us and form us to be more like Christ. Some of these we will explore together. Some I will just talk about from my own experience.
To me, spiritual formation is about spiritual transformation. Accepting Jesus and receiving the Holy Spirit is a significant event in our lives and we should not be surprised to see dramatic transformation in our lives after this event. With that said, we are still creatures of habit and humans and while there might be a change in our lives, we still come to the change with the habits and baggage that we have always had before, hence the term sometimes used, disciplines, in describing the practices we do to become transformed.
We practice the disciplines to help us develop new habits and to help us on our spiritual journey. Spiritual formation is a process that brings us closer to God and makes us more like Jesus in what we do, what we think and who we are. The Bible helps to guide us in our journey and provides the blueprint on how to get there. Also, there are great resources out there for disciplines that we can draw upon to help us in this walk with the Lord.
Check out such books such as Celebration of Discipline by Foster or even Spiritual Direction: Wisdom for the Long Walk of Faith by Henri Nouwen (anything by Nouwen is pretty good). You can also learn more at the Valparaiso project at www.practicingourfaith.org for good insights as well.
One of the things that I have found difficult is working my day this way. It is hard to plan and execute your day in a manner that keeps one connected with Jesus day in and day out. There are forces out there that will try and make it difficult for us to do that. But we have to find ways to act like Jesus, live like Jesus, be like Jesus and then do everything for Jesus. When was the last time that you thought about doing everything for Jesus?
If we are called to be like Jesus, then we have to walk with Him in our spiritual journey. And we have to do this each and every day (it is not easy, I know). Whatever we do, we do it in the name of the Lord. We work in the name of the Lord. We live in the name of the Lord. We should eat, breath, look and listen in the name of the Lord. Try that for a day and see what happens.
As we do these things we do them in the name of Jesus, looking to Jesus as the example of whom to follow. That means that we also have to do this in the same character of Jesus. Jesus was the unblemished one. The one who could cast the first stone, but he didn’t. Can you image doing everything (and I mean everything) the way Jesus would do? Would Jesus curse at the car that cut you off? Would Jesus think mean thoughts about the person in the next cubicle to you? Would He gossip about them at the water cooler? Would Jesus get mad because someone else got a promotion that you thought you deserved? Would Jesus refuse to talk to someone because they made Him mad? Would Jesus leave work early? Show up to work late? Take a late lunch? Would He not talk to someone because they believe, act or live in a different way than you do? In my opinion, these are all tough questions to answer, but even harder to do. However, as followers of Jesus we have to think about the hard questions and how we are going to handle them. No one, including Jesus, said that this was going to be easy. But in the end it will be rewarding.
So as you go through your day in whatever you do and wherever you do it, asked yourself what I can do to be more like Jesus. We are called, as Christians, to become more like Jesus and we cannot do that unless we put ourselves in the position of doing, thinking and being more like Jesus.
So try it tomorrow. Wake up like Jesus. Get dressed like Jesus. Eat like Jesus. Pray like Jesus. Work like Jesus. Talk to others like Jesus. Take time with family and friends the way that Jesus would. Look at the world through the eyes of Jesus and act upon it. You just might be amazed at what you see.
May God bless you on your spiritual journey to become more like Jesus.
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