External manifestation of “Christlikeness” is not, however, the focus of the process; and when it is made the main emphasis, the process will certainly be defeated, falling into deadening legalisms and pointless parochialism. That is what has happened so often in the past, and this fact is a major barrier to wholeheartedly embracing Christian spiritual formation in the present. We know now that peculiar modes of dress, behavior, and organization just are not the point.
While “the letter of the law kills, the spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:6, PAR).
To illustrate briefly, Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7) refer to various wrong behaviors: acting out anger, looking to lust, heartless divorce, verbal manipulation, returning evil for evil, and so forth. But, as abundant experience teaches, to strive merely to act in conformity with his expressions of what living in the kingdom of God from the heart is like is to attempt the impossible. And it will also lead to doing things that are obviously wrong and even ridiculous—such as self-castration as a presumed act of devotion to Christ, which unfortunately has repeatedly occurred in Christian history.
Though we must act, the resources
for spiritual formation extend far beyond the human. They come from the
interactive presence of the Holy Spirit in the lives of those who place their
confidence in Christ. They also come from the spiritual treasures—people,
events, traditions, teachings—stored in the body of Christ’s people on earth,
past and present.
It is also formation by the Spirit of God and by the spiritual riches of Christ’s continuing incarnation in his people-–including, most prominently, the treasures of his written and spoken word and the amazing personalities of those in whom he has most fully lived. Spiritual formation is, in practice, the way of rest for the weary and overloaded, of the easy yoke and the light burden (Matthew 11:28-30), of cleaning the inside of the cup and the dish (Matthew 23:26), of the good tree that cannot bear bad fruit (Luke 6:43). And it is the path along which God’s commandments are found to be not “heavy,” not “burdensome” (1 John 5:3).
It is who we are in our thoughts, feelings,
dispositions, and choices—in the inner life—that counts. Profound
transformation there is the only thing that can definitively conquer outward
evil. SOURCE
P. 24
Comments
Post a Comment