Spiritual Formation: The path to meaningful change

Today, I will tell you how true, meaningful change is achieved.

The answer is God.

Okay, thanks, see you next week!

But actually…

Right, so there’s actually more to it than that. Yes, God is the answer, but what does that mean? How is change achieved with Him?

It begins with understanding a phenomenon many have termed “Spiritual Formation.” 

In essence, spiritual formation is the process by which we are formed at our deepest level based on what our lives are built around.

We cannot change by knowledge alone. 

We need to intentionally structure our lives so the things we learn become part of who we are and, by extension, how we live.

When we do this following the Way of Jesus, we walk the path of spiritual formation.

I’d like to direct your attention to this great post from Aaron back in October.

Here, he wrote about explicit (mental, theoretical) knowledge versus tacit (experiential, embodied) knowledge and how Jesus employed both but emphasized the latter.

This division grants us valuable insight into how spiritual formation works.

Nuts & Bolts

A recurring motif of Scripture is humanity's inability to save itself.

After all, if we could overcome our timeless human problems by sheer willpower then there would be no conflict and no reason for Jesus.

Understanding the limits of our will regarding change is integral to spiritual formation.

Any meaningful change that results from the spiritual formation journey is purely a result of God and His grace and nothing else.

Our role in spiritual formation is to open ourselves to God’s grace, seek Him, and humbly ask for His help to be more like Jesus.

There are many ways to do this, we’ll get into that tomorrow, but the point remains…

Spiritual formation, and the change that accompanies it, is built upon dependency on the Father, Son, and Spirit.

Fortunately for us, He’s got plenty of grace to spare.

All we gotta do is ask, seek, and knock.

More on that tomorrow.

For now, be blessed.

Jon,

Theophilus Newsletter