What is God Inviting You To?
We are in the home stretch of unpacking our mission statement - intentionally connecting people to Jesus.Three ideas emerge from that single word ‘intentional’.
Spiritual Conversations
Community Connection
Spiritual Habits
'Why' we should develop and pursue spiritual habits is where we focused last week - you can check out our past Inside Forum emails here. In summary, it is one of the primary ways we stay connected to Jesus or, in His words, how we remain in Him.
Today let's turn our attention to 'what' spiritual habits are, and next week we will steer into our discussion on the ‘how’.
I love how Richard Foster opens his seminal work on spiritual habits (I also refer to them as spiritual disciplines, spiritual rhythms, or spiritual practices), "The classical Disciplines of the spiritual life call us to move beyond surface living into the depths. They invite us to explore the inner caverns of the spiritual realm. They urge us to be the answer to a hollow world."
Spiritual habits are the daily practices we exercise to stay connected to Jesus.
One important distinction is that daily spiritual rhythms are not the connection in and of themselves. They are the path to that connection. They allow us to be shaped by the Spirit of God - God is the one who transforms us more and more into the image of Christ.
The disciplines don't actually do the transforming, but they are necessary, and I would add, are our responsibility in pursuit of daily connection with Jesus. It is our journey to walk with and in communion with the living God. The apostle Paul would say it like this in Ephesians 4:15 - "...growing in every way more and more like Christ."
In his book Invitation to a Journey, Robert Mulholland says it well, "Our part is to offer ourselves to God in ways that enable God to do that transforming work of grace."
Not complicated, but not easy. Simple, yet deeply transforming.
I want to close our brief discussion by challenging you to consider what spiritual habits God is calling you to. What journey is He inviting you to embark on, renew, or continue?
I hope you will join us this Sunday as we finish our "Let Us" series by slowly unpacking Hebrews 10:25. See you on Sunday!
- Bradley