God...form me.
We’re all wired differently – I get that.
What makes one person tick is different to what makes another person tick.
So a little insight into how I’m wired…the kind of things that I love to think about…
…Spiritual growth….formation….how we become more like Jesus.
…If God’s heart is to conform us to Christ, then how does that happen?
That’s what I like to think about, read about, give myself to…
…the process by which we become more like Jesus.
Maybe you’re stifling a yawn at the thought of spiritual formation.
Maybe you’ve never really thought about it.
But if that’s what God wants for me…for us….then I want to understand it.
For me…because I want to experience all that God has for me.
And for you, because as pastor, I guess I’m wired to want that for others too!
Anyway, I’m loving our new series, Rooted - It’s a brilliant opportunity to spend time thinking about it, studying, reflecting, and then trying to communicate all that God’s Word has for us about it.
Anyway, let me share something I’ve been reflecting on this week.
It’s a quote by a guy called Robert Mulholland…
The process of being formed in the image of Christ takes place primarily at the points of our unlikeness to Christ’s image.
You might want to read it a few times and ponder it.
Maybe it’s obvious what he’s saying, but just in case, let me say what I think he’s saying…
God grows us by confronting us in those areas of our lives where we are least like Jesus. It’s the areas of unlikeness to Christ that God needs to bring transformation to.
And it makes sense.
I think about the areas in my life where I am experiencing God’s work in me at the moment. And it’s in those areas that are least like Jesus.
And Mulholland goes on to describe the process of that confrontational work God does in us..
Through some channel – Scripture, worship, a word of proclamation, the agency of a brother or sister in Christ – the Spirit of God may probe some area in which we are not formed in the image of Christ. That probing will probably always be confrontational, and it will always be a challenge and a call to us in our brokenness to come out of brokenness into wholeness of Christ.
I love that.
Well, not the process, because the process of God probing and confronting can be painful and humbling.
But I love the truth behind what Mulholland says.
That God’s Spirit is at work in different ways probing us…confronting us in our unlikeness to Christ…and at the same time as confronting, also calling us onwards and inwards, in to the new life that Christ has for us.
That’s part of the work of formation.
Example from Scripture…
You know the story of David and Bathsheba? I won’t re-hash it….go read it in 2 Samuel 11.
But David has messed up. Big time.
But God doesn’t give up on him.
God loves David and so confronts him in the area of his life where he, at this point, is most unlike God.
And he does it through a prophet.
You can read it in 2 Samuel 12.
God probes and confronts David. Not just in the outward sinful action, but also in his inner life…the motivations and patterns that lurked deep in David’s heart. And David heard God’s call to come out of his brokenness and into God’s wholeness.
David was being spiritually formed.
Anyway, would love to encourage you to ponder this aspect of spiritual formation.
How is God’s Spirit confronting you at the moment?
What is he calling you out of and in to?