Conformed to His Image, Revised Edition: Biblical, Practical Approaches to Spiritual Formation

A NOTE ON BOLD TERMS

As you read, you’ll notice some words in bold. Terms in bold can be found in the glossary, which starts on p. 543.

PREFACE

Although I was exposed to a number of strong Christian influences as I was growing up, it was only about a month after graduating from Case Institute of Technology that I had a personal encounter with Jesus Christ. That summer of 1967 was a strange one, as I moved to Berkeley, California, as a new Christian still immersed in the fleeting flower-child culture. During the next six months, I had virtually no contact with other believers and was moving through a painful transition from an evolutionary mindset that was influenced by occultism and Eastern thought to a gradually emerging biblical worldview. Six months after my conversion, I found myself at Dallas Theological Seminary, which was a culture shock for me at that point in my journey. It took two semesters at Dallas before the things I had previously learned converged into sharper focus through the lens of biblical truth, and a coherent, consistent, clear, and comprehensive life framework began to emerge.

In the years that followed, my readings, experiences, ministries, and growing understanding of Scripture shaped a developing perspective on the depths and dynamics of the spiritual life. I enjoyed the privilege of being exposed to a wide variety of approaches to spiritual formation and discipleship. Particularly fascinating was how each approach was presented with a certain finality by its proponents, who claimed that their style of spirituality was the best available. Each time, I was exposed to another set of useful tools; however, the toolbox never seemed to be complete.

My years of spiritual practice have included interaction with people across the theological spectrum, from liberalism to fundamentalism, from charismatics to anticharismatics, and from people of strongly Reformed to strongly Arminian traditions. I have had the privilege of becoming close to Orthodox Christians, Catholic Christians, and all stripes of Protestant Christians. I have participated with the monks at a Cistercian (Trappist) monastery, I have spoken in spiritual-formation conferences at a Greek Orthodox church, and I have spent time with evangelists who have boldly shared their faith in extraordinary circumstances. I have enjoyed relationships with Anglo-Catholics, Pentecostals, scholars in philosophy of religion societies at Oxford University, missionaries who minister throughout the world, and people in cult-awareness ministries, deliverance ministries, apologetics ministries, evangelism ministries, discipleship ministries, campus ministries, youth ministries, business ministries, ministries to lawyers and doctors, and (of course) churches.

Looking back, I now see how my approach to the spiritual life was marked by seasons of changing interests and focuses. At one point in my journey, I discovered the spiritual disciplines and immersed myself in them. At another point, I found myself captivated by writings that centered on the exchanged life—Christ’s life for our life. During yet another period, I focused on the spiritual life as a product of being filled and empowered by the Spirit. I also went through a time when spiritual warfare became particularly real for me. The same thing happened with each of the other facets of spirituality I encountered, and I began to see a pattern. As important as each of these approaches was to me, no one of them was sufficient for understanding the depth and breadth of the Christian life; there was always more.

This has been a source of both frustration and excitement. Frustration, because my quests for a quick fix, a one-size-fits-all approach, or a controllable technique have all failed. Excitement, because I now see that we can hardly scratch the surface of all that God has for us; there are always new surprises. Seen this way, the pursuit of God becomes the greatest adventure of all.

The body of Christ is extraordinarily diverse, and through my experiences with so many facets of the spiritual life in my journey of faith, I have discovered an appreciation for the unique merits of each.

This second edition of Conformed to His Image, like the first edition, presents a synthetic and comprehensive approach to the spiritual life that will expose you to twelve beneficial facets. Each of these facets has value as part of a greater whole, and it is my hope that this book will stretch your thinking and encourage you to press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:14). Much of the content of this book is evergreen; however, in this second edition, some necessary updates and enhancements have been made, and a suite of study materials has also been produced to accompany the revised book. I pray God will continue to use this material in its now-varied formats to enrich and challenge believers all around the globe.

Specifically, I pray that as a result of reading this book, you will:

• Develop a greater appreciation for the unique way God has made you.

• Become aware of a wider array of options for your spiritual journey.

• Get out of a spiritual rut.

• Desire to experience other facets of the faith.

• Appreciate the manifold legacy that has been bequeathed to us by those who have gone before.

• Be encouraged to explore practices and aspects of the Christian faith that you might have otherwise ignored.

• Have a greater passion for Christ and a greater desire to participate in his loving purposes for your life.

Romans 8:29 gives us the most concise revelation of God’s ultimate intention for those whom he foreknew, predestined, called, justified, and glorified. His purpose is nothing less than that we become conformed to the image of His Son. This process of growing conformity to Christ was conceived before the foundation of the world, it is being realized as a divine-human process in the present, and it will be fulfilled when we stand in the presence of his glory, blameless with great joy (Jude 24).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The body of Christ is holistic and synergistic: the total is greater than the sum of the parts. My spiritual journey and ministry have been immeasurably enriched by the people God has placed in my life, and Michael Stewart and Jenny Abel are brilliant exemplars of this dynamic. Their skillful, diligent, precise, and insightful work has greatly enhanced Conformed to His Image, and I owe the realization of this revised edition to them. They also wrote a significant amount of the Conformed to His Image Study Guide, a resource that amplifies understanding and application of each of this book’s chapters.

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, . . . in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now. For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:3–6).

INTRODUCTION

A GEM WITH

MANY FACETS

CHAPTER OVERVIEW

There is a hunger for spirituality in our time, and several reasons explain this growing interest. The spiritual life is a journey in which pilgrims can use a variety of approaches. This book develops twelve facets of Christian spirituality that relate to practical experience on a personal and corporate level, and these facets are briefly summarized. It is natural to be attracted to some of these approaches more than others, but it is also beneficial to be exposed to all of them.

THE CURRENT HUNGER FOR SPIRITUALITY

Religion is out, but spirituality is in. There has been a remarkable hunger and quest for spiritual answers to the big questions of life in recent decades. In the past, there was a general moral consensus in the Western world that was loosely based on a Judeo-Christian worldview, but this was accompanied by a growing tendency to secularize culture by marginalizing religion and replacing it with a popular faith in scientific progress and humanistic inquiry. But pure naturalism corrodes by the acids of its own assumptions. As the Enlightenment project of arriving at final answers and solutions to the human condition by means of unaided human reason began to totter and crumble, the quest for transcendent solutions became more appealing.

In our postmodern world, skepticism about the quest for objective truth has thoroughly taken hold, along with relativism concerning moral standards and a brand of multiculturalism that goes beyond mere appreciation for diversity and encourages us to pick and choose ideological options. This smorgasbord mentality has led to a frightening lack of discernment and an uncritical openness to pantheistic spiritualities and New Age philosophies and techniques. In our time, one can freely promote Native American spirituality, Eastern mysticism, Western European paganism, shamanic medicine, techniques for achieving cosmic consciousness, or any form of yoga without fear of public criticism.

Taking their cue from education and the media, many people are antagonistic to any authority that appears to be external or traditionally based. Thus religion is out, while spiritualities that appeal to inner subjective and experiential authentication are in. As the former Soviet Union shows, humans cannot live in an ideological vacuum; when one ideology is abandoned, people quickly embrace another, whether for weal or for woe.

Paralleling this growing popular interest in spirituality has been a pronounced increase in the church’s appetite for spiritual renewal. The problem is that many people, especially certain leaders in mainline denominations, have failed to discern the spirit of truth and the spirit of error (1 John 4:6). Reimaging of God in radical feminist categories (e.g., the worship of Sophia and Gaia), Buddhist tantrism, Hinduistic meditative techniques, and pagan symbolism aren’t unusual to find in certain churches that have moved away from the authority of Scripture to espouse liberal theologies. Nevertheless there are authentic, biblically orthodox, and time-tested approaches to the spiritual life that still mark many communities of believers, and this is what this book means when it uses the term spirituality.

From a human standpoint, there are a number of reasons for the growing awareness of spirituality among followers of Christ:

• The influence of the ambient cultural interest in spirituality

• Growing dissatisfaction with the shallowness and sterility of the Christian subculture

• A quest for meaning, purpose, and significance

• Greater availability of and exposure to the classics of spirituality

• A more intense movement toward accountability and discipleship

• Influential writers and teachers who have become committed to communicating these truths

A JOURNEY AND A PILGRIMAGE

The concepts in this book describe a journey into spirituality. The spiritual life is an all-encompassing, lifelong response to God’s gracious initiatives in the lives of those whose trust is centered in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Biblical spirituality is a Christ-centered orientation to every component of life through the mediating power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. It is a journey of one’s spirit that begins with the gift of forgiveness and life in Christ and progresses through faith and obedience. Since it is based on a present relationship, it is a journey with Christ rather than a journey to Christ. The journey is only completed at our resurrection, when the Lord brings us into complete conformity with himself.

This journey with Jesus is a spiritual pilgrimage in that we have confessed that we are strangers and exiles on the earth (Hebrews 11:13). Once we are in Christ, we become sojourners and aliens on this planet; our citizenship has been changed from earth to heaven (Philippians 3:20), and we must grow in the realization that no earthbound felicity can fully satisfy the deepest God-given longings of our hearts. During this brief pilgrimage, the terrain we encounter varies from grassy meadows to arid deserts and treacherous mountains. This pilgrim-life is filled with joy and travail, with pleasures and afflictions, with clarity and confusion, with assurance and doubt, with comfort and pain, with relationships and alienation, with hope and despair, with obedience and disbelief, with confidence and uncertainty. But there are two critical truths to bear in mind when our surroundings become precarious: others have preceded us in this journey, and some have left maps along the way to guide us through the territory ahead; and God has equipped us with the spiritual resources he knows we will need throughout the journey.

TWELVE FACETS OF SPIRITUALITY

There are a variety of approaches to the spiritual life, but these are facets of a larger gem that is greater than the sum of its parts. The diversity and complexity of the spiritual paths that have been taken by godly pilgrims of previous centuries is rich and impressive. Some of these paths were blazed through courage and suffering, some in tandem with historical, social, and cultural rhythms; however, most followers of Jesus have ignored the topographical maps that have been left behind, or they have torn off all the parts that are unfamiliar to them. The most common stumbling stone is to mistake a part for the whole.

Anyone who studies the four gospels should be suspicious of an approach that reduces the nuances of the spiritual life into a single formula or method. The Gospels are not uniform biographies but highly selective thematic portraits that reveal different aspects of Christ’s life that should stand in dynamic tension with one another. The synergism of this tensioned interplay resists neat categorization, and so it is with the dynamics of a Spirit-led journey with Christ. In contrast to the conceit of those who seek to quantify and control, the humility of wisdom always whispers that there is more, much more. When we approach the spiritual journey with an open and teachable spirit, we will continue to gain fresh insights from the Word of God, the people we meet, and the books we digest.

In our times, there is a growing desire for an authentic spirituality that will touch our lives in a meaningful and practical way. The biblical vision of the spiritual life as a redemptive relationship with the living and personal Creator of all things can satisfy this deep desire, but most accounts of this vision are fragmentary or one-sided. The purpose of Conformed to His Image is to offer a more comprehensive, balanced, and applicable approach to what it means to know Christ. This book will address this need by presenting not one or two but a variety of pathways in the spiritual life and showing how each of these pathways can contribute to the dynamic process of spiritual growth. We will look at several facets of the gem of the spiritual life and see how each can contribute to the larger whole.

I do not claim that the twelve facets that are presented here are exhaustive, but they do cover a substantial part of the terrain. I created these categories in an attempt to reflect the various dimensions of biblical truth as they relate to practical experience on a personal and corporate level. Because of this, some of them are rooted in historical traditions (e.g., disciplined and devotional spirituality), some are linked to more recent movements (e.g., exchanged life and Spirit-filled spirituality), and others portray hands-on applications of Christian principles (e.g., paradigm, holistic, and process spirituality). This book is not a history of Christian spirituality (appendix B, The Richness of Our Heritage, briefly outlines this history) but a practical handbook to spiritual formation.

These twelve facets will be developed in Conformed to His Image.

Relational spirituality. As a communion of three persons, God is a relational being. He is the originator of a personal relationship with us, and our high and holy calling is to respond to his loving initiatives. By loving God completely, we discover who and whose we are as we come to see ourselves as God sees us. In this way, we become secure enough to become others-centered rather than self-centered, and this enables us to become givers rather than grabbers.

Paradigm spirituality. There is a radical contrast between the temporal and eternal value systems, and we need a paradigm shift from a cultural to a biblical way of seeing life. Experiencing our mortality can help us transfer our hope from the seen to the unseen and realize the preciousness of present opportunities. Our presuppositions shape our perspective, our perspective shapes our priorities, and our priorities shape our practice.

Disciplined spirituality. There has been a resurgence of interest in the classical disciplines of the spiritual life, and this approach stresses the benefits of these varied disciplines. At the same time, it recognizes the needed balance between radical dependence on God and personal discipline as an expression of obedience and application.

Exchanged life spirituality. The nineteenth and twentieth centuries saw the growth of an experiential approach to the spiritual life that is based on the believer’s new identity in Christ. Identification with Christ in his crucifixion and resurrection (Romans 6; Galatians 2:20) means that our old life has been exchanged for the life of Christ. This approach to spirituality moves from a works to a grace orientation and from legalism to liberty because it centers on our acknowledgment that Christ’s life is our life.

Motivated spirituality. People are motivated to satisfy their needs for security, significance, and fulfillment, but they turn to the wrong places to have their needs met. This approach emphasizes looking to Christ rather than the world to meet our needs. A study of Scripture reveals a number of biblical motivators: fear, love and gratitude, rewards, identity, purpose and hope, and longing for God. Our task is to be more motivated by the things God declares to be important than by the things the world says are important.

Devotional spirituality. What are the keys to loving God, and how can we cultivate a growing intimacy with him? This approach explores what it means to enjoy God and to trust in him. We gradually become conformed to what we most love and admire, and we are most satisfied when we seek God’s pleasure above our own.

Holistic spirituality. There is a general tendency to treat Christianity as a component of life along with other components such as family, work, and finances. This compartmentalization fosters a dichotomy between the secular and the spiritual. The biblical alternative is to understand the implications of Christ’s lordship in such a way that even the most mundane components of life can become expressions of the life of Christ in us.

Process spirituality. In our culture, we increasingly tend to be human doings rather than human beings. The world tells us that what we achieve and accomplish determines who we are, but the Scriptures teach that who we are in Christ should be the basis for what we do. The dynamics of growth are inside out rather than outside in. This approach considers what it means to be faithful to the process of life rather than living from one product to the next. It also focuses on abiding in Christ and practicing his presence.

Spirit-filled spirituality. Although there are divergent views of spiritual gifts, charismatics and noncharismatics agree that until recently, the role of the Holy Spirit has been somewhat neglected as a central dynamic of the spiritual life. This approach considers how to appropriate the love, wisdom, and power of the Spirit and stresses the biblical implications of the Holy Spirit as a personal presence rather than a mere force.

Warfare spirituality. Spiritual warfare is not optional for believers in Christ. Scripture teaches and illustrates the realities of this warfare on the three fronts of the world, the flesh, and the devil. The worldly and demonic systems are external to the believer, but they entice and provide opportunities for the flesh, which is the capacity for sin within the believer. This approach develops a biblical strategy for dealing with each of these barriers to spiritual growth.

Nurturing spirituality. The believer’s highest call in ministry is to reproduce the life of Christ in others. Reproduction takes the form of evangelism of those who do not know Christ and edification of those who do. It is important to develop a philosophy of discipleship and evangelism and view edification and evangelism as a way of life; lifestyle discipleship and evangelism are the most effective and realistic approaches to unbelievers and believers within our sphere of influence.

Corporate spirituality. We come to faith as individuals, but we grow in community. A meaningful context of encouragement, accountability, and worship is essential to spiritual maturity, since this involves the others-centered use of spiritual gifts for mutual edification. This approach stresses the need for community, challenges and creators of community, the nature and purpose of the church, soul care, servant leadership, accountability, and renewal.

Although the discussion of each of these facets in this book is limited, I have tried to distill the essence of each of these diverse but beneficial approaches. There are many other ways to explore the vast territory of spiritual formation, and a list of some helpful resources is found on p. 549. It’s important to note that, in recommending resources, I am not offering a wholesale endorsement of any particular author or book. I am simply offering a range of perspectives that have helped me see this territory more clearly. Discernment aided by the Holy Spirit and a great sense of care are essential when reading any work outside of the Bible.

UNITY IN DIVERSITY

A quick look at these twelve approaches underscores how truly different we are from one another. As you read them, you were undoubtedly more attracted to some of these approaches than to others. You probably thought that some of them would be hard for you but easier for some of your friends to pursue. Some of them may be unfamiliar, and you may not have encountered people who have taught or practiced them.

As Paul puts it so beautifully in 1 Corinthians 12–14, the body of Christ is a diverse and composite unity in which the members exhibit different gifts and different ministries. It is good that we are different and that we need each other to grow into fully functioning maturity, because no component in the body can be complete without the others.

It can be liberating to discover that because of our unique temperaments and circumstances, we are free not to be drawn to some approaches to spirituality. This is the purpose of appendix A, The Need for Diversity, where these differences are discussed in detail. As this appendix shows, some of us are extroverts and can never be alone, while others are consistently drawn to solitude. Some of us base our decisions on detailed investigation, and others can move quickly, almost instinctively, through life. Some of our friends say we place too much of an emphasis on thinking and not enough on feeling or vice versa. Our many temperamental differences are reflected in the way we practice the different facets of spirituality.

We shouldn’t be ashamed of our differences. We can see how God has used dissimilar people throughout the history of the ancient, medieval, and modern church, and this is the focus of appendix B, The Richness of Our Heritage. C. S. Lewis said that he preferred theological reading to devotional books, and great intellectuals from John Calvin to Thomas Aquinas have always been numbered among God’s people. Martin Luther’s approach was balanced by his friend and coworker Philipp Melanchthon. Francis of Assisi called the church to change in very different ways than did John Chrysostom.

The appendix about the history of spirituality provides perspective and a sense of proportion concerning the ways in which God has used a great diversity of people through the centuries. Because of this we inherit a great legacy of different models and approaches.

QUESTIONS FOR PERSONAL APPLICATION

• What is your understanding of spiritual formation?

• As you reflect on your spiritual journey, what have been the most significant experiences you have had with God? Can you discern any pattern in these experiences?

• Where would you like to go from here? Are you willing in advance to pay what it may cost?

• As you read the brief description of the twelve facets, which three were the most attractive to you? Which three were the least attractive? What does this tell you about yourself?

FACET 1

RELATIONAL

SPIRITUALITY

Loving God Completely, Ourselves

Correctly, and Others Compassionately

As a communion of three persons, God is a relational being. He originates a personal relationship with us, and our high and holy calling is to respond to his loving initiatives. By loving God completely, we discover who and whose we are as we come to see ourselves as God sees us. In this way, we become secure enough to become others-centered rather than self-centered, and this enables us to become givers rather than grabbers.

CHAPTER 1

Relational Spirituality

LOVING GOD

COMPLETELY

CHAPTER OVERVIEW

Since God is a relational being, we who are created in his image are also called to right relationships, first with him and then with each other. This chapter considers the causeless, measureless, and ceaseless love of God and the fitting response of loving God completely. We move in this direction by knowing him more clearly, loving him more dearly, and following him more nearly.

CHAPTER OBJECTIVES

• An enhanced appreciation for the greatness and glory of God

• A greater sense of the dilemma of our dignity and depravity

• A better grasp of God’s causeless, measureless, and ceaseless love

• An understanding of what it means to love God with our minds, wills, and emotions

WHAT IS MAN, THAT YOU TAKE THOUGHT OF HIM?

The God of the Bible is infinite, personal, and triune. Because God is a communion of three persons, one of his purposes in creating us is to display the glory of his being and attributes to intelligent moral creatures who are capable of responding to his relational initiatives. In spite of human rebellion and sin against the person and character of the Lord, Christ bore the awesome price of our guilt and inaugurated a new and living way (Hebrews 10:20) by which the barrier to personal relationship with God has been overcome. Because the infinite and personal God loves us, he wants us to grow in an intimate relationship with him; this is the purpose for which we were created—to know, love, enjoy, and honor the triune Lord of all creation.

Because God is a relational being, the two great commandments of loving him and expressing this love for him by loving others are also intensely relational. We were created for fellowship and intimacy not only with God but also with each other. The relational implications of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity are profound. Since we were created in God’s image and likeness, we too are relational beings. The better we know God, the better we know ourselves. Augustine’s prayer for this double knowledge (Let me know myself, let me know Thee, from his Soliloquies) reflects the truth that our union with Christ is overcoming the alienation with God, with ourselves, and with others that occurred at the Fall.

Our Greatness and Smallness

Human nature is a web of contradictions. We are at once the grandeur and degradation of the created order; we bear the image of God, but we are ensnared in trespasses and sins. We are capable of harnessing the forces of nature but unable to rule our tongue; we are the most wonderful and creative beings on this planet but the most violent, cruel, and contemptible of earth’s inhabitants.

In his Pensées, Blaise Pascal described the dignity and puniness of humanity: Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature; but he is a thinking reed. The entire universe need not arm itself to crush him. A vapour, a drop of water, suffices to kill him. But, if the universe were to crush him, man would still be more noble than that which killed him, because he knows that he dies and the advantage which the universe has over him; the universe knows nothing of this.

The Glory of God

Psalm 8 explores these twin themes, sandwiching them between expressions of the majesty of the Creator of all biological and spiritual life: O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth (vv. 1a, 9). The living God has displayed his splendor above the heavens, and he has ordained praise from the heavenly host to the mouth of infants and nursing babes (vv. 1b–2). When, after our Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the children cried out in the temple, Hosanna to the Son of David, the chief priests and the scribes became indignant, and Jesus quoted this passage to them (Matthew 21:15–16). The children’s simple confession of trusting love was enough to silence the scorn of his adversaries and make the enemy and the revengeful cease (Psalm 8:2b).

In Psalm 8:3–4, David’s meditation passes from the testimony of children to the eloquence of the cosmos: When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained; what is man that You take thought of him, and the son of man that You care for him? From the time David wrote those words until the invention of the telescope in the early seventeenth century, only a few thousand stars were visible to the unaided eye, and the universe appeared far less impressive than we now know it to be. Even until the second decade of the twentieth century, it was thought that the Milky Way galaxy was synonymous with the universe. This alone would be awesome in its scope, since our spiral galaxy contains more than 200 billion stars and extends to a diameter of 100,000 light years (remember that a light second is more than 186,000 miles; the 93 million miles between the sun and the earth is 8 light minutes). But more recent developments in astronomy have revealed that our galaxy is a member of a local cluster of about 20 galaxies and that this local cluster is but one member of a massive supercluster of thousands of galaxies. So many of these superclusters are known to exist that the number of galaxies is estimated at more than 200 billion.

What is humanity, indeed! The God who created these stars and calls them all by name (Isaiah 40:26) is unimaginably awesome; his wisdom, beauty, power, and dominion are beyond human comprehension. And yet he has deigned to seek intimacy with the people on this puny planet and has given them great dignity and destiny: Yet You have made him a little lower than God, and You crown him with glory and majesty! (Psalm 8:5). These words are applicable to all people, but they find their ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ, as Hebrews 2:6–8 makes clear.

We were made to rule over the works of God’s hands (Psalm 8:6–8), but we forfeited this dominion in the devastation of the Fall (but now we do not yet see all things subjected to him [Hebrews 2:8b]). However, all things will be subjected under the feet of Christ when he returns (1 Corinthians 15:24–28), and we will live and reign with him (Romans 5:17; 2 Timothy 2:12; Revelation 5:10; 20:6).

As wonderful as our dominion over nature will be, our true cause of rejoicing should be in the fact that if we have placed our trust in Jesus Christ, our names are recorded in heaven (Luke 10:20). What is man that You take thought of him, and the son of man that You care for him? The infinite Ruler of all creation takes thought of us and cares for us, and he has proved it by the indescribable gift of his Son (2 Corinthians 9:15; 1 John 4:9–10). In the words of C. S. Lewis, glory means good report with God, acceptance by God, response, acknowledgment, and welcome into the heart of things. The door on which we have been knocking all our lives will open at last. Let us exult in hope of the glory of God!

GOD’S LOVE FOR US

We have seen that the love of God is the wellspring of biblical faith and hope. Consider these truths about the love of God from Paul’s epistle to the Romans. In the book of nature, God reveals his eternal power and divine nature (1:20), and in the book of human conscience, he reveals our imperfection and guilt (2:14–16). But only in the book of Scripture does God reveal his limitless love that can overcome our guilt and transform us into new creatures in Christ. God’s loyal love for us is causeless (5:6), measureless (5:7–8), and ceaseless (5:9–11). Nothing in us merited or evoked his love; indeed, Christ died for us when we were his ungodly enemies. God’s love is spontaneous and unending—he loved us because he chose to love us, and if we have responded to Christ’s offer of forgiveness and relationship with him, nothing can separate us from that love or diminish it (8:35–39). This means that we are secure in the Lord’s unconditional love; since we belong to Christ, nothing we do can cause God to love us more, and nothing we do can cause God to love us less.

George Herbert

Internet Archive Book Images

For people who have experienced pain and rejection caused by performance-based acceptance and conditional love, this description seems too good to be true. Isn’t there something we must do to merit God’s favor or earn his acceptance? If we are afraid others would reject us if they knew what we are like inside, what of the holy and perfect Lord of all creation? The Elizabethan poet George Herbert (1593–1633) captured this stinging sense of unworthiness in his superb personification of the love of God:

Love bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back,

Guilty of dust and sin.

But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack

From my first entrance in,

Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,

If I lacked anything.

A guest, I answered, worthy to be here.

Love said, You shall be he.

"I, the unkind, ungrateful? Ah, my dear,

I cannot look on thee."

Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,

Who made the eyes but I?

"Truth, Lord, but I have marred them; let my shame

Go where it doth deserve."

And know you not, says Love, who bore the blame?

My dear, then I will serve.

You must sit down, says Love, and taste my meat.

So I did sit and eat.

Beyond all human faith, beyond all earthbound hope, the eternal God of love has reached down to us and, in the ultimate act of sacrifice, purchased us and made us his own.

How do we respond to such love? All too often, these revealed truths seem so remote and unreal that they do not grip our minds, emotions, and wills. We may sing about the love of God in worship services and learn about it in Bible classes but miss its radical implications for our lives. Spiritual truth eludes us when we limit it to the conceptual realm and fail to internalize it. We dilute it through cultural, emotional, and theological filters and reduce it to a mental construct that we affirm more out of orthodoxy than out of profound personal conviction. How do we move in the direction of loving God completely?

LOVING GOD COMPLETELY

I sometimes use these words based on a prayer by Richard of Chichester (1197–1253) in my own quiet times before the Lord: Thanks be to thee, O Lord Jesus Christ, for all the benefits which thou hast given us; for all the pains and insults which thou hast borne for us. O most merciful Redeemer, Friend, and Brother, may we know thee more clearly, love thee more dearly, and follow thee more nearly; for thine own sake.

Loving God completely involves our whole personality—our intellect, emotion, and will. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength (Mark 12:30). The better we come to know God (may we know thee more clearly), the more we will love him (love thee more dearly). And the more we love him, the greater our willingness to trust and obey him in the things he calls us to do (follow thee more nearly).

Richard of Chichester

Public Domain

Know Thee More Clearly

The great prayers in Ephesians 1:17–19, Ephesians 3:16–19, Philippians 1:9–11, and Colossians 1:9–12 reveal that Paul’s deepest desire for his readers was that they grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. The knowledge the apostle had in mind was not merely propositional but personal. He prayed that the Lord would give them a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, that the eyes of their hearts would be enlightened, and that they would know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge (Ephesians 1:17–18; 3:19).

The occupational hazard of theologians is to become so engrossed in the development of systematic models of understanding that God becomes an abstract intellectual formulation they discuss and write about instead of a living person they love on bended knees. In the deepest sense, Christianity is not a religion but a relationship that is born out of the trinitarian love of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Thomas Aquinas

Public Domain

When thirteenth-century theologian Thomas Aquinas was pressed by his secretary, Reginald of Piperno, to explain why he stopped working on his uncompleted Summa Theologica, he said, All that I have written seems like straw compared to what has now been revealed to me. According to tradition, in his vision he heard the Lord say, Thomas, you have written well of me: what shall be your reward? and his reply was, No reward but yourself, Lord. Our greatest mental, physical, and social achievements are as straw compared with one glimpse of the living God (Philippians 3:7–10). Our Lord invites us to the highest calling of all—intimacy with him—and day after day, we decline the offer, preferring instead to fill our stomachs with the pods of short-lived pleasures and prospects.

What does it take to know God more clearly? The two essential ingredients are time and obedience. It takes time to cultivate a relationship, and unless we set aside consistent time for disciplines such as solitude, silence, prayer, and the reading of Scripture, we will never become intimate with our Lord. Obedience is the proper response to this communication, since it is our personal expression of trust in the promises of the Person we are coming to know. The more we are impressed by him, the less we will be impressed by people, power, and things.

Love Thee More Dearly

To know God is to love him, because the more we grasp—not merely in our minds but also in our experience—who he is and what he has done for us, the more our hearts will respond in love and gratitude. We love, because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). When we discover that the personal Author of time, space, matter, and energy has, for some incomprehensible reason, chosen to love us to the point of infinite sacrifice, we begin to embrace the unconditional security we longed for all our lives. God’s love for us is spontaneous, free, uncaused, and undeserved; he did not set his love on us because we were lovable, beautiful, or clever, because in our sin we were unlovable, ugly, and foolish. He loved us because he chose to love us. As we expand our vision of our acceptance and security in Christ who loved us and gave himself for us, we begin to realize that God is not the enemy of our joy but the source of our joy. When we respond to this love, we become the people he has called us to be. By God’s grace we need to grow in love with him in our thoughts, in our emotions, and in our actions. The theme of loving him more dearly is developed later in the section on devotional spirituality.

Follow Thee More Nearly

As we grow to know and love God, we learn that we can trust his character, promises, and precepts. Whenever he asks us to avoid something, it is because he knows that it is not in our best interests. And whenever he asks us to do something, it is always because it will lead to a greater good. If we are committed to following hard after God, we must do the things he tells us to do. But the risk of obedience is that it will often make no sense to us at the time. It is countercultural to obey the things the Holy Spirit reveals to us in the Scriptures. Radical obedience sometimes flies in the face of human logic, but in these times our loving Father tests and reveals the quality of our trust and dependence on him. If we love Jesus, we will keep his commandments (John 14:15); he taught us that obedience to his commands is the way we test and express our abiding relationship with him (John 15:10). Our great task in the spiritual life is to will to do his will, to love the things he loves, and to choose the things he sets before us for our good. The theme of following him more nearly is developed in the sections on holistic and process spirituality.

QUESTIONS FOR PERSONAL APPLICATION

• What is your view of our greatness and smallness? How do you deal with the tension between these images?

• How does nature speak to you about the glory of God? How often do you reflect on God’s attributes through the created order?

• What are the implications of the love of God in your heart and mind?

• How do you practice the triple prayer may I know thee more clearly, love thee more dearly, and follow thee more nearly?

CHAPTER 2

Relational Spirituality

LOVING OURSELVES

CORRECTLY

CHAPTER OVERVIEW

We can be defined either by our world or by our God. To love ourselves correctly is to see ourselves as God sees us. This involves a process of exposure to the truths of Scripture with a view to understanding our new identity in Christ Jesus. This chapter contains an inventory of these truths in the form of a series of affirmations from Scripture.

CHAPTER OBJECTIVES

• Gaining perspective on the role of identity in defining our approach to life

• Learning to see ourselves in the way God sees us

• A clearer understanding of who God says his children are

THE ISSUE OF IDENTITY

A popular story about the American playwright Arthur Miller (told in The Little, Brown Book of Anecdotes) illustrates the issue of personal identity.

Sitting alone in a bar, [Miller] was approached by a well-tailored, slightly [tipsy] fellow who addressed him thus:

Aren’t you Arthur Miller?

Why, yes, I am.

Don’t you remember me?

Well . . . your face seems familiar.

Why, Art, I’m your old buddy Sam! We went to high school together! We went out on double dates!

I’m afraid I—

"I guess you can see I’ve done all right. Department stores. What do you do, Art?"

Well, I . . . write.

Whaddya write?

Plays, mostly.

Ever get any produced?

Yes, some.

Would I know any?

"Well . . . perhaps you’ve heard of Death of a Salesman?"

Sam’s jaw dropped; his face went white. For a moment he was speechless. Then he cried out, Why, you’re ARTHUR MILLER!

Sam recognized his high school friend Arthur Miller, and he was familiar with the dramatist Arthur Miller, but he didn’t realize the two were one and the same. There is a sense in which this happens in our experience as believers in Christ—we know ourselves and each other in a superficial way, but we do not grasp who we are at the core of our being. Like a man who has forgotten his name, we can wander about the streets of life without knowing our true identity.

WHO DEFINES YOU?

We are constantly in danger of letting the world instead of God define us, because that is so easy to do. It is only natural to shape our self-image by the attitudes and opinions of our parents, our peer groups, and our society. None of us are immune to the distorting effects of performance-based acceptance, and we can falsely conclude that we are worthless or that we must try to earn God’s acceptance. Only when we define ourselves by the truths of the Word rather than the thinking and experiences of the world can we discover our deepest identity.

All of us have encountered psychobabble about self-love, including the call to look within ourselves to discover the answers to our problems. But the Scriptures exhort us to look to Christ, not to self, for the solutions we so greatly need. I have come to define the biblical view of self-love in this way: loving ourselves correctly means seeing ourselves as God sees us. This will never happen automatically, because the scriptural vision of human depravity and dignity is countercultural. To genuinely believe and embrace the reality of who we have become as a result of our faith in Christ requires consistent discipline and exposure to the Word of God. It also requires a context of fellowship and encouragement in a community of like-minded believers. Without these, the visible will overcome the invisible, and our understanding of this truth will gradually slip through our fingers.

SEEING OURSELVES AS GOD SEES US

What does it mean to see ourselves as God sees us? Contrary to our culture, the biblical doctrine of grace humbles us without degrading us and elevates us without inflating us. It tells us that apart from Christ, we have nothing and can do nothing of eternal value. We are spiritually impotent and inadequate without him, and we must not put our confidence in the flesh (Philippians 3:3). Grace also tells us that we have become new creatures in Christ, having been transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of his light, life, and love. In him, we now enjoy complete forgiveness from sins and limitless privileges as unconditionally accepted members of God’s family. We are no longer defined by the pain of our bounded past but are defined by the joy of our unbounded future. We have a new heredity in Christ, and our future is secure because of our new destiny as members of his body.

Thus a biblical understanding of grace addresses both human depravity and human dignity. It avoids the extreme of worm theology (I’m worthless, I’m no good, I’ll never amount to anything, I’m nothing but a rotten sinner) and the opposite extreme of pride and autonomy (What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? [1 Corinthians 4:7]). Grace teaches us that the most important thing about us is not what we do but who and whose we are in Christ. In Scripture, doing (our actions) should flow out of being (our identity); the better we grasp our identity in Christ, the more our actions should reflect Christlike character.

WHO DOES GOD SAY I AM?

The following biblical affirmations about our identity in Jesus Christ are derived from a few selected passages in the New Testament. These passages teach a portion of the many truths about who we have become through faith in God’s Son.

• I am a child of God.

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.

John 1:12

• I am a branch of the true vine, and a conduit of Christ’s life.

I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. . . . I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

John 15:1, 5

• I am a friend of Jesus.

No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.

John 15:15

• I have been justified and redeemed.

Being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.

Romans 3:24

• My old self was crucified with Christ, and I am no longer a slave to sin.

Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin.

Romans 6:6

• I will not be condemned by God.

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:1

• I have been set free from the law of sin and death.

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

Romans 8:2

• As a child of God, I am a fellow heir with Christ.

And if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

Romans 8:17

• I have been accepted by Christ.

Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God.

Romans 15:7

• I have been called to be a saint.

To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.

1 Corinthians 1:2; Ephesians 1:1; Philippians 1:1; Colossians 1:2

• In Christ Jesus, I have wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.

But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption.

1 Corinthians 1:30

• My body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who dwells in me.

Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

1 Corinthians 3:16

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?

1 Corinthians 6:19

• I am joined to the Lord and am one spirit with him.

But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.

1 Corinthians 6:17

• God leads me in the triumph and knowledge of Christ.

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.

2 Corinthians 2:14

• The hardening of my mind has been removed in Christ.

But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ.

2 Corinthians 3:14

• I am a new creature in Christ.

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

2 Corinthians 5:17

• I have become the righteousness of God in Christ.

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

2 Corinthians 5:21

• I have been made one with all who are in Christ Jesus.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Galatians 3:28

• I am no longer a slave but a child and an heir.

Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.

Galatians 4:7

• I have been set free in Christ.

It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

Galatians 5:1

• I have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

Ephesians 1:3

• I am chosen, holy, and blameless before God.

Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.

Ephesians 1:4

• I am redeemed and forgiven by the grace of Christ.

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.

Ephesians 1:7

• I have been predestined by God to obtain an inheritance.

In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will.

Ephesians 1:10–11

• I have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.

In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise.

Ephesians 1:13

• Because of God’s mercy and love, I have been made alive with Christ.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).

Ephesians 2:4–5

• I am seated in the heavenly places with Christ.

And raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 2:6

• I am God’s workmanship created to produce good works.

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Ephesians 2:10

• I have been brought near to God by the blood of Christ.

But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Ephesians 2:13

• I am a member of Christ’s body and a partaker of his promise.

The Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Ephesians 3:6; 5:30

• I have boldness and confident access to God through faith in Christ.

In whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.

Ephesians 3:12

• My new self is righteous and holy.

Put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

Ephesians 4:24

• I was formerly darkness, but now I am light in the Lord.

You were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light.

Ephesians 5:8

• I am a citizen of heaven.

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Philippians 3:20

• The peace of God guards my heart and mind.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:7

• God supplies all my needs.

And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:19

• I have been made complete in Christ.

In Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority.

Colossians 2:10

• I have been raised up with Christ.

Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Colossians 3:1

• My life is hidden with Christ in God.

For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Colossians 3:3

• Christ is my life, and I will be revealed with him in glory.

When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

Colossians 3:4

• I have been chosen of God, and I am holy and beloved.

So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

Colossians 3:12

• God loves me and has chosen me.

Knowing, brethren beloved by God, His choice of you.

1 Thessalonians 1:4

I recommend reviewing frequently this powerful inventory, since it reminds us of truths we quickly forget amid the worries and cares of this world. The more we embrace these affirmations from Scripture, the more stable, grateful, and fully assured we will be in the course of our lives.

QUESTIONS FOR PERSONAL APPLICATION

• To what degree are you defined by the world? By the Word? How can you develop your identity more fully in the latter?

• What does it require to see yourself as God sees you?

• Which five from the list of biblical affirmations resonate the most with you?

• Which five seem the most remote to your experience? How can you make these more real in your thinking and practice?

CHAPTER 3

Relational Spirituality

LOVING OTHERS

COMPASSIONATELY

CHAPTER OVERVIEW

The closer our walk with God, the more we are empowered to manifest our love for him through acts of love and service to others. When we understand that Christ’s resources are our resources, we can become secure enough to serve other people without expecting reciprocity. Loving Christ more than people increases our capacity to love, serve, forgive, and give ourselves away for people.

CHAPTER OBJECTIVES

• An ability to see the implications of our vertical relationship with God for our horizontal relationships with people

• A vision of greatness as God defines it

• A realization that Christ’s resources have been given to us now that we are in him

• An enhanced appreciation for the relationships we have been given

• An understanding of the importance of forgiveness in our relationships

FROM THE VERTICAL TO THE HORIZONTAL

We have seen that we were created for an intimate relationship with the infinite and personal God who loves us. He initiates this relationship, and we love him because he first loved us. Loving God completely is the key to loving self correctly (seeing ourselves as God sees us), and this in turn is the key to loving others compassionately. As we grow in our understanding of God’s unconditional love and acceptance of us in Christ, we are increasingly liberated from using people to meet our needs.

EXPRESSING GOD’S LOVE ON THE HORIZONTAL

This developing vertical relationship of loving the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit will find its manifestations on the horizontal, since there is no act that begins with the love of God that does not end with the love of neighbor. The great and foremost commandment (You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind [Matthew 22:37]) is the foundation for the second great commandment (You shall love your neighbor as yourself [Matthew 22:39]). After washing the feet of his disciples, Jesus elevated the standard by which we are called to love others: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also