Renovation of the Heart
Spiritual Change (2|3)
Pages 80-86
• And We Are Never on Our Own
• Learning to Speak Arabic
• Alcoholics Anonymous Illustrates
• VIM: The General Pattern
• Why We Fail and Don’t Grow
• The Vision of Life in the Kingdom
TOGETHER read the devotional and the scripture.
INDIVIDUALLY take notes in your journal on what stands out.
2 Peter 1:3-9 (NIV) His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
TOGETHER pray for one another.
INDIVIDUALLY answer the questions in your journal - process your devotional notes and pray.
And We Are Never on Our Own
”It is the worth of human beings, not their righteousness, which is tied to their nature. Things of great value can still be lost and often are, and to be of great value does not mean one is not lost, but is saved and safe. “Depravity” does not, properly, refer to the inability to act, but to the unwillingness to act and clearly the inability to earn.”
What does this mean and what is your reaction to this statement?
” Everyone must be active in the process of their salvation and transformation to Christlikeness. - The transformation of the inner being is as much or more a gift of grace as is our justification before God. Of course neither one is wholly passive. (To be forever lost you need only do nothing. Just stay the course.)”
If we are active in the process of spiritual formation, does that mean we are acting “on our own”? How do grace and effort interrelate in spiritual growth?
Learning to Speak Arabic
“Projects of personal transformation rarely if ever succeed by accident, drift, or imposition. Indeed, where accident, drift, and imposition dominate - as they usually do, quite frankly, in the lives of professing Christians - very little human value transpires. Effective action has to involve order, subordination, and progression, developing from the inside of the personality. It is, in other words, a spiritual matter, a matter of meaning and will, for we are spiritual beings. Conscious involvement with order, subordination, and progression, developing from the “inside” of the personality is how a life becomes our life.”
What is the general pattern of all spiritual growth? (Discuss the “learning to speak Arabic” case as an illustration)
Alcoholics Anonymous Illustrates
“A desirable state of being is envisioned, and an intention to realize it is actuated in decision. Means are applied to fulfill the intention (and the corresponding decision) by producing the desirable state of being.”
What is the general pattern of all spiritual growth? (Discuss “AA” as an illustration)?
VIM: The General Pattern
“If we are to be spiritually formed in Christ, we must have and must implement the appropriate vision, intention, and means. Not just any path we take will do. If this VIM pattern is not put in place properly and held there, Christ simply will not be formed in us.”
What is your response to this statement?
Why We Fail and Don’t Grow
“Today you find many professing Christians circling back to non-Christian sources to resolve the problems of their inner lives. - Instead of inward transformation, some outward form of religion - often today even called ‘a spirituality’ - is taken or imposed as the goal of practical endeavor.”
What are some examples of an “outward form of religion or spirituality” that you have seen or experienced professing Christians use today?
The Vision of Life in the Kingdom
“The planet Earth and its immediate surroundings seem to be the only place in creation where God permits His will to be not done. Therefore we pray, ‘Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,’ and hope for the time when that kingdom will be completely fulfilled even here on earth - where in fact it is already present and available to those who do so seek it with all their hearts. For those who do so seek it, it is true even now that ‘all things work together for their good,’ and that nothing can cut them off from God’s inseparable love and effective care. That is the nature of a life in the kingdom of the heavens now.”
What is the biblical vision of our lives in the kingdom of God? How does that fit into your life?
EXTRA READING:
“Who knows how the awareness of God’s love first hit people? Every person has a story to tell, including the person who would not believe in God if you paid them. Some moment happens in your life that makes you say YES right up to the roots of your hair, that makes it all worth having been born just to have happened. It is a moment that is trying to open up your whole life. If you try to turn your back on such a moment and hurry along to ‘Business as Usual,’ it may lose you the whole ball game. If you throw your arms around such a moment and hug it like crazy, it may save your soul. How about the person you know who as far as you can possibly tell has never had such a moment? Maybe for that person, the moment that has to happen is you.”
- Frederick Buechner (1926 - 2022)