One of my pastors recently preached a sermon on spiritual formation, the term my church uses to describe adult Sunday school classes. More broadly, it is the process of growing in faith, becoming more Christ-like, through the work of the Holy Spirit.
One of our young pastors presented an image of spiritual formation that depicts our awareness of God’s holiness as an upward sloping arrow and our awareness of our own sinfulness or self-centeredness as a downward sloping arrow. The image looked something like this picture:
The path that my own spiritual awareness has taken has not been so linear. For many years, I let my own selfish desires and the distractions of life crowd out God. Especially during times of crisis, I become more aware of my need for God and I pray much more.
Although my own spiritual formation has had its ups and downs, I believe my spiritual growth has picked up speed in the last few years. Why? One reason is that I have learned through the “refiners fire” that I can’t do it on my own. In mid-life, I’m also seeking wisdom and the deeper purpose of my life. I have also been positively influenced listening to Christian music; I find myself waking up with a song of praise in my heart.
I did a Google search on Spiritual Formation and found Dr Alex Tang’s website that lists Eighty Corollaries of Christian Spiritual Formation. I’ve listed several of these propositions below but highlighted the one that sums it up perfectly:
- Christian spiritual formation is the will of God for the people of God
- Christian spiritual formation is tuning into God’s grace
- Christian spiritual formation slows us down to listen to God
- Christian spiritual formation is praying unceasingly
- Christian spiritual formation is the process of growing into the character of Christ (Christ-likeness)
- Christian spiritual formation commences after justification but is not justification
- Christian spiritual formation is intentional
- Christian spiritual formation develops within the framework of the revelation of God through his word (Bible) as illuminated by the Holy Spirit in our hearts
- Christian spiritual formation focuses on the centrality of the Gospel (Timothy Keller)
- Christian spiritual formation is removing the idols that sit on the thrones of our beings
- Christian spiritual formation is saying “no” to our egos by taking up the cross
- Christian spiritual formation is saying “yes” to Jesus
- Christian spiritual formation is living to serve others (servanthood)
- Christian spiritual formation is the interaction of the overwhelming love of the Father, the sacrificial work of the Son on the Cross, the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, and the willingness of a person to be formed and transformed
Spiritual formation is a continuous process that starts with the recognition of our own sinfulness and need for redemption. Spiritual growth is God’s will for his people, but we must be willing to be transformed, we must be tuned into his grace. We must be willing to say no to our egos, and say yes to Christ.
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