Act now in hot pursuit of Jesus

POSSESSING THE LAND - The body, as well as the other aspects of the individual, can be re-formed to become our ally in Christlikeness. How? The land promised to the Israelites was one of incredible goodness—“flowing with milk and honey,” as it is repeatedly described. But it still had to be conquered by careful, persistent, and intelligent human action over a long period of time. 

In the beginning of the conquest of the Promised Land, the walls of Jericho fell down to make clear God’s presence and power. But that never happened again. The Israelites had to take the remaining cities through hand-to-hand warfare, though always with divine assistance. What was then true of the Promised Land of the Israelites is true of individual human beings who come to God. The Israelites were saved or delivered by grace just as surely as we are. But in both cases, grace means we are to be—and God enables us to be—active to a degree we have never been before. Paul’s picture of grace is this: “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed” (2 Corinthians 9:8). 

We therefore live in “hot pursuit” of Jesus Christ. “My soul followeth hard after thee,” the psalmist called out (63:8, KJV). And Paul’s panting cry was, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death in order to participate in the life of his resurrection” (Philippians 3:10-11, PAR). 

What are we to say of those who think they have something more important to do than that? The work of spiritual formation in Christlikeness is the work of claiming the land of milk and honey in which we are, individually and collectively, to dwell with God. 

It’s quite startling to begin to believe that transformation into Christlikeness is really possible. You and I really could become persons who are kind to our enemies, who listen attentively to the people who annoy us, who work tirelessly to help others without hoping to get any credit. 

To possess this promised land of transformation, we will have to arrange our lives differently. As we become more interested in this, we may find ourselves inadvertently giving up the hours we used to spend shopping. We will look forward to reading the Gospels and picturing the selfless, luminous person of Jesus whom even government embezzlers loved to have dinner with. We will be transfixed by seeing Jesus in the midst of his world loving his enemies—exuding love even as he washed the feet of his betrayer, Judas. Such transformation is possible. 

God will do this—make all grace abound to us, that always having all sufficiency in everything, we may have an abundance for every good deed. God will direct us in our cooperative efforts to possess this land. 

For now, the question is this: Do I believe transformation can happen? Am I conscious during the moments of my day that everything I do can contribute to this if I have an understanding and willingness of how spiritual formation works?  

TODAY’S EXPERIMENT - Speak to God about this possibility. If you need to express honest doubts that you could ever be formed into Christlikeness, do so. Tell God what you admire most about Jesus and what you would most like to be able to do in cooperation with the power of the Spirit. Thank God for the opportunity to explore this transformation process.

Johnson, Jan; Willard, Dallas. Renovation of the Heart in Daily Practice: Experiments in Spiritual Transformation (Redefining Life) (pp. 32-33). The Navigators. Kindle Edition.