Boot Camp?

On the journey of discipleship, being conformed to the image of Jesus, we have explored having a transformed mind, transformed character, and transformed relationships; we have talked about believing what Jesus believed, living the way Jesus lived, and loving the way Jesus loved. But how do these things actually happen? How do we get to the place where we can actually begin to look a bit more like Christ? Perhaps the answer to that is in another area of transformation: transformed habits: training as Jesus trained.

I believe that sometimes we get this idea in our heads that we can just turn on "Jesus" mode, and we become Super-Christians. However, it is not like that at all. You see, when we finally surrender our lives to Jesus, that is our spiritual birth, not our transformation. Just like a natural birth, it means the beginning of a growth process. Our inner self is changed by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, but our outer self, our physical, mental, and emotional self, still needs to be transformed. As we read in Romans 7, their is a constant struggle between our new inner self and our outer self to become more Christ-like.

So the way to become more Christ-like is not to try harder. Doing things on our own is born from the outer self. Human beings have a tendency to think of themselves as self-sustaining. If we just keep trying, we'll get it right, but that is impossible. The only way to get our outer self to grow and be transformed toward Christ's image is to train. When we want to have the image of a body builder, we train in the weight-room. When we want to have the image of a track star, we train on the track. When we want to become the image of Christ, we train his way. His way includes what we call spiritual disciplines. The track star and body builder both have certain disciplines that help them to grow, so it is not crazy to think that a Christian should have disciplines to help them grow.

The danger with the disciplines is that we may look at them as an end rather than a means to an end. In other words we think of fasting, prayer, or solitude as a goal, rather than a spiritual exercise to help us toward the goal of transformation. The danger is when we think we have accomplished the goal because we fast and pray and spend time alone. That would be like someone thinking they are a body builder just because they went and lifted weights and drank a protein shake a few times this month; it's like a person thinking they are a track star because they ran a few sprints on the track last week. The spiritual disciplines are exercises for us to perform in order to train our outer selves to become closer to the image of Christ.

Just as running everyday builds endurance and weight-training builds muscle mass, so participating in spiritual disciplines builds character. It helps us even though we are not sure how. But the thing about the spiritual disciplines is that we don't need to practice all of them all the time. Each discipline has a specific purpose and a time for being exercised. Now, there are tons of resources on different spiritual disciplines, thought there may not be a comprehensive guide available. A couple of resources that are available to help explore them are The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard, Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster, Spiritual Disciplines Handbook by Adele Ahlberg Calhoun, and Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donal S. Whitney. The idea is not to make sure you practice the disciplines, but to find a way of getting into a rhythm with these disciplines at the core of your life. The only way to become a track star is to train as one. The only way to become like Christ is to train like he did.

I feel like a huge part of this training includes the realization of who we are in Christ. As believers, who are in Christ, we must know our place. Part of our training is realizing that we have been raised with Christ and have been seated with Christ in the heavenly realms. Our sins have been forgiven, we are justified before God, and we must grasp this in order to see the need for and the value of practicing the disciplines. Without this realization, we are denying the power that is at work within us to transform us. There is such a paradox at work in the Christian life. We are motivated to do certain things, but the things we are motivated to do help us surrender our lives to Christ so that we will not try to earn God's love through works. So our works are done because Christ compels us to do them, not because we are trying to do things on our own. The reason I bring this up is because what we do will flow out of who we are. The more we recognize who we are in Christ, the more we will be in training. Conversely, the more we train, the more we will realize who we are in Christ. It's a wonderful cycle, and it becomes a wonderful reality of transformation. The more we seek Christ's life in us, the more we live in Christ!

So what's holding you back from studying your Bible, meditating on God's Word, praying to the Creator of the Universe, being by yourself, or even being silent? More than likely it is not Jesus holding you back. If Christ-likeness is your ultimate goal, you will not allow anything to hold you back, but if you are not sure...well, then where is your faith?