Jesus is the Logos of God. Jesus as the word of God
establishes all being into existence and grants the essence of life
to all that exist. As I study the scriptures this reality becomes
more and more apparent as the truth of Jesus as the word of God is
weaved through-out each biblical story and teaching. Bradley Holt states:
“Jesus is central to Christian spiritual formation. In short, Jesus
is the basis, the example, and the promise of Christian spiritual
formation." The understanding of the truth impresses one to live a rule of life
based on the treasures of faith, hope, and love.
God has granted us the revelation of himself through
the bible. This collection of books reminds us that in the Old
Testament believers looked for the coming Messiah, and after Jesus'
life, death, burial and resurrection the New Testament believers
looked back to the Messiah who had come. As a result of this
historical review, it is certain that mankind's ability to achieve
equality with God's will never be attainable. Thus, a messiah was
necessary as one who would stand in our place to pay the price for
sin. The message of Jesus is just as relevant today as it was
throughout all history.
The ancient text reveal that God has a plan for a
restored relationship with his creation. Holt comments on God's plan
with the description: “It is the grace of God that initiates our
relationship to God, and it is the grace of God that energizes us to
activity, not to create the relationship but to exercise it, to give
the relationship the attention that gives the possibility of
growth."
In other words, it is the creation's task to receive the favor and
the gift. It is God's love that has initiated the relationship. The
question becomes are we, as believers, willing to exercise the
opportunity to develop a genuine relationship.
A restored relationship with the Creator is
established in three essential foundational realities that Jesus is
the basis, the example, and the promise of Christian spiritual
formation. Jesus refers to himself as the only means to get to the
Father and that he is way, the truth, and the life. Living as Jesus
lived is the basis for spiritual formation and is readily received,
but hard to practice. The believer must put truth under this
foundational basis and live as if life depends on the truth. It is
the truth of Jesus where the foundational building blocks of
spiritual formation stand, but the difficulty is in the practice of
such truth in our everyday living.
It is harder to follow the example of Jesus in our
spiritual formation than believing in Jesus as the “basis” in our
spiritual formation. The willingness to be sacrificial in life, in
generosity, and in listening for the goal of spiritual formation is
hard. This element is where the rubber meets the road as the saying
states. Holt states it as, “Jesus provides an example of spiritual
practice by integrating his inner and outer life.”
Jesus was willing to give of himself so as to allow God to rule as
the supreme father of his inner and outer life. Jesus was willing to
get up early, he was willing to listen to God even in the hardness of
the cross, and he was willing to act against the fleshly desires of
sin while fighting against the evil in the world. It is his
commitment to habitual practice of the spiritual disciplines that
Jesus uses to demonstrate the power of God. The struggle emerges in
the believers' heart because it is a struggle to create a habitual
practice.
The
third element is Jesus as the promise of Christian spiritual
formation. The promise in this context is a noun. It is to seek
spiritual formation through which the risen Lord is alive and working
among the believers throughout history. Jesus is the declared
assurance that God will be faithful to bring to completion that which
he started in the first place. Holt's summation is, “Jesus is able
to be the promise because he is alive today and will bring the world
its consummation.”
Thus, this element that Jesus is the promise is that which makes
spiritual formation a reality for those who seek to establish Jesus
as the basis for spiritual formation, and are willing to habitually
practice the example of Jesus in spiritual formation.
Therefore,
the ancient words of the scriptures are the basis, the example, and
the promise of the Logos of God. That Jesus is the word of God in the
flesh and is the revealed God as creator of all life. It is the study
of the Word that brings to fruition the believer's spiritual
formation. I seriously doubt that the average believer takes into
account how important these elements are to the growth of faith, hope
and love. Yet, the elements are present in the heart of every sincere
believer. The lack of awareness does not diminish the importance of
each of the elements in spiritual formation.
As a
matter of reflection, the awareness of these elements heightens one's
abilities in habitually practicing the spiritual disciplines. Holt
provides the example that, “prayer can open our ears to hear by
directing our thoughts to God and by helping us to be willing to
hear, sometimes when we are too distracted or too self-centered to
want to hear. Willingness and attentiveness are the attitudes we want
to develop as we approach the Word.”
Thus, we develop our spiritual disciplines, as in this example of
prayer, by committing to an habitual practice of the discipline for
the purpose of spiritual formation. Those who heard from God and
wrote the books of the bible were habitually committed and passed
along for our modern study the opportunity to approach God through
the Word, or Logos. The noteworthy by product is the growth in a
willingness and attentiveness to God. The elements of Jesus as the
basis, the example, and the promise of spiritual formation reveals
Jesus in each of the books of the bible. My reflection on this
reality heightens my awareness in the truth of Jesus as the word of
God and that he is weaved throughout each biblical story and teaching
for the purpose of developing my spiritual formation.
Seeking to grow and be closer ... You know I love ya, Don
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