During the FOLLOW sermon series, The Daily Fill devotional will consist of four days of the regular devotionals, and the 5th day (Fridays) will include a “practice” section to help you go a little deeper with the subject studied this past week.
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“Spiritual Formation is a process of being conformed to the image of Christ for the sake of others.” – Robert Mulholland
Who is forming you?… Self-formation vs. God-formation
Spiritual formation is God’s design for every disciple; for everyone who desires to follow him. The question that we must consider is, who is forming me? We tend to be “graspers,” resisting being held by God or “manipulators,” rejecting being shaped by God. The question that we must ask ourselves, though, is who is doing the forming… really?
Practice: Meditate on the following verses, then honestly ask yourself, who is it that is forming you.
~ Galatians 4:19: “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you.”
~ Romans 8:29: “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”
~ 2 Corinthians 3:16-18: “But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
As Mulholland says, “In the final analysis, there is nothing we can do to transform ourselves into persons who love and serve as Jesus did except make ourselves available for God to do that work of transforming grace in our lives.”
Doing vs. Being
As followers of Christ, we are called to live in obedience to him. That does involve doing, but when our doing replaces our need for Christ and our willingness to relinquish control to him, we miss out on the joy, grace, and love that come from “being.” Mulholland says, “When we operate from the perspective that our doing determines our being, we expect immediate returns on our investment of time and resources — observable results that prove that we have performed well and are therefore persons of value and worth.”
“Doing” can offer instant feedback. Yet failure to receive instant feedback can be felt as failure to be valued or worthy. As humans, we tend to operate from a place of needing to constantly prove ourselves in order to be valued. When our focus remains on who God has designed us to be, and we see our God-given value as His perfectly created child, we can rest in the understanding that life is a journey of yielding ourselves to His plans rather than a constant battle to gain control. It is a journey of surrendering rather than fighting. It is a journey of trust that you are fully and perfectly loved.
Practice: Honestly ask yourself where you find your value. What makes you feel worthy? Who or what determines your identity?
Control vs. Surrender
The difference between forming ourselves and being formed by God is the issue of control. We try to set our pace and direction by working hard to create limitations in our lives. “Being formed” goes against our do-it-yourself culture. We are used to fighting for what we want and who we want to be. Only surrendering and relinquishing control to God will allow us to receive full freedom and the abundant life for which we were designed.
Practice: Look back over the last week. Consider how you responded when someone or something disrupted your plans. What or who got in your way? Did you see those disruptions as barriers or opportunities? Honestly answering these questions will help you determine how much your need to control is impacting your life.
Formation? Surrendering to God’s Love
It is nearly impossible to see disruptions as opportunities unless we are utterly convinced of God’s unconditional love. David Benner says, “Only surrender to something or someone bigger than us is sufficiently strong to free us from the prison of our egocentricity…. Christ does not simply want our compliance. He wants our hearts. He wants our love, and he offers us his. He invites us to surrender to his love…. Love invites abandon and intimacy. Love speaks to the depths of our soul, where we yearn for release from our isolation and long for the belonging that will assure us, we are at last home. Love speaks the language of the soul as it awakens our hunger for relationship and connection.”
Surrender takes the focus off ourselves and frees us to experience the life God has designed for us. Surrendering to God’s love frees us to let go, relinquish control, engage in relationship, and trust the one who is forming us.
Practice: Which areas of your life are you holding on to that are preventing you from fully experiencing God’s love? Choose one to recommit to the Lord. Ask him to give you a tangible way to remember the sweetness that comes from surrendering to God’s design, his perfect plans. (maybe an object, a sticky note that you put on your steering wheel, etc.) Commit this to God afresh and let it be a reminder of your Abba’s unconditional love.
This is being formed.