Love

St. Anthony's Retreat Center in November

"I urge you...by the mercy of God to present yourself a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God which is your spiritual act of worship."

How can we ever present our lives as holy to the Lord? It's only through spiritual transformation of our inner being that we can begin to live this verse of Scripture.

What is "spiritual transformation"? For the Christian, it is the Spirit-driven process of forming the inner world of the human heart in such a way that it becomes more and more like the inner being of Christ. The degree to which spiritual formation in Christ is successful, is the degree to which our outer life becomes a natural expression of Jesus' teachings. The quality of our character, how we choose to conduct ourselves in public and in private, how we react to adversity, these are all external expressions of our internal spiritual transformation.

But this is where it gets tricky.

Because, if the goal of spiritual formation is obedience to Christ, and obedience to Christ is defined in terms of external expressions: what we should do (pray) and what we shouldn't do (hate)--we have a serious problem. When external behavior is the focus, the whole process is corrupted by legalism. Legalism merely increases the kind of "righteousness" that the Pharisees had; it doesn't spiritually transform us. The Pharisees' righteousness was corrupt and unacceptable to God.

True righteousness is seen in obedience that arises from an inner transformation accomplished through purposive interaction with the grace of God in Christ. It's more than an obedience that is merely focused on our external life. In fact, the external manifestations of obedience are not the point at all.

What was so offensive to Jesus about the supposed righteousness of the Pharisees was that it did not arise from a true love for HIM. Their motives were not to love the Lord and live to please Him because they were so grateful for His mercy and grace. They were motivated to look good, to have their colleagues totally impressed with their acts of righteousness, to earn God's acceptance by their stellar behavior.

The motivation underlying our obedience matters to God.

God desires genuine transformation of who I am through and through -- a transformation that begins, I believe, with hours and months of coming to know in ever deepening ways the unfathomable love of God for me, personally. I believe that at the heart of Christian spiritual formation is knowledge of how much God loves me. True spiritual formation arises from knowing his love, and then allowing our lives to be a response to his love. We love him and want to obey him--humbly aware of our need for his love and mercy, but desiring to please him as an expression of our adoration and worship.

At the Springs, we experience spiritual transformation as we open ourselves to receive the love of God, listen to Him and respond.

Heart. Soul. Mind. Strength.

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