Walking Together on the Journey with Christ to be Transformed into His Image
When you look at the life of Jesus in the Gospels enough, patterns, practices, and developed characteristics begin the emerge from between the lines. He often went off to lonely places to pray. He regularly fasted and expected his followers to fast. He had scripture memorized and ready when needed. He was slow to anger. Compassion was often his first reaction to people. He embodied a deep peace no matter the circumstance. The list could go on. As you’ve come to know Jesus, what have you noticed about his way of life or characteristics that admire you?
Luke 2:52 says that Jesus “grew in wisdom and stature.”
Hebrews 5:8-10 says that Jesus “learned obedience through what he suffered.” And he was “Made perfect through what he suffered.”
What does it mean that Jesus grew and learned? It is a lot easier to get our minds around Jesus growing and developing physically but what about emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually? Jesus’s ministry is shaped by times of prayer and fasting where he seeks the Spirit’s guidance in his life. If Jesus needed to learn scripture, develop a robust prayer life, fast, seek solitude and silence, keep sabbath, etc. then we do as well.
In this series, I want to advocate for developing a “Rule of Life” or “Rhythm of Life.” When you hear “Rule of Life,” don’t think of rules like “don’t taste, don’t touch, etc.” A “Rule of Life” is a structure built in which a person can grow. Think along the lines of what a trellis does for a vine to grow on and produce fruit. This kind of structure provides freedom rather than restriction. These structures help you develop into who God has called you to be.
Social media companies, news agencies, political commentaries, etc. all spend millions of dollars a year to harvest one of the most precious commodities we have in our society, our attention. Your attention is what is being sold today and marketing agencies are making a fortune helping companies and organization capitalize on where you give your attention. If they are willing to spend this kind of money on holding your attention, why would we not invest on developing practices to make sure our attention is directed to the things that will ultimately shape who we will become? Whether we realize it or not, where you give your attention ultimately shapes who you are becoming.
Take a moment to think about your day, week, and month. What are the top three things that receive most of your time? What receives your attention? What do you look at the most? What do you read? What do you hear? What does your money go toward? What receives your emotional energy more readily?
As we learn about spiritual practices in the life of Jesus and the early church, be thinking about what practices you need to adopt to give structure to your spiritual growth as you are shaped more and more into Christ’s image.