3 Misconceptions about Transformation

Misconception #3 “Trying real hard will produce spiritual transformation."

Now at first glance this seems like a good idea. Trying is essential to success in any venture in life. So, it is a positive first step. But, trying alone won’t lead us into spiritual transformation any more than trying to bench press three-hundred pounds will lead to a transformed, chiseled physique. Often it leads to just the opposite. Failure, defeat, frustration, and exhaustion...not to mention a hernia. Why? Because we can move mountains on will-power alone. The will alone was never meant to transform the self. Trying alone was never intended as God's means of crafting a new you. Transformation is not primarily about "trying harder" It's about training smarter. Spiritual training is the key.

In fact the Bible speaks about training as a normal part of the Christian life. Paul compares the Christian life to a race and says, “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training” (I Corinthians. 9:25). He later urges Timothy, “Train yourself in godliness” (I Timothy 4:7). Jesus says that “every disciple when fully trained will become like his master” (Luke 6:40). Most of us have been taught to try real hard in the Christian life. But have we been taught to train stategically?

Let’s answer two basic questions surrounding this idea of training. First, why is training so valuable to maturing as a Christian? And second, what does training look like in everyday circumstances?

Training is important to success in every area of life. In my neck of the woods, Hayward, Wisconsin, we host the American Birkebeiner North America's largest cross-country ski race. It boasts 51 grueling kilometers of challenging ski trails. I've done it a handful of times and assure you that it's no walk in the park. Think about it, how many people would be able to ski the Birkie on race day simply on will power alone? Perhaps a few could. However, for the vast majority of people (even athletic ones!) will power alone won’t cut it. You'd poop out half way or injure a body part along the way . . .or if you're not from northen Wisconsin, you'd just freeze your spandex off. In order to cross the infamous Lake Hayward and join a cheering crowd of witnesses urging you on as you ski up Main St. towards the finish, training would be essential. The reason? Because training allows us to become what we cannot become by will-power alone.


The same is true in the Christian experience. Without training our hearts, minds and bodies to routinely orient themselves towards the ways of Jesus we’re sure to fail. We see this so clearly at Gethsemane. It’s Jesus’ final hour. If ever he needed prayer partners it was now. His three closest amigos Peter, James and John are with him to support him, keep watch and pray for him. Here this trio find themselves in the middle of another essential garden where God in Jesus is groaning in agony and mustering the strength to bear the cross for all humanity. An in this epic, climatic point in human history . . .and what are Jesus' disciples doing? Sleeping! James is drooling. John is snooring. Peter dreaming...probably about fish. Jesus approaches them in their groggy state and whispers, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak”. Now I’m sure these three disciples were trying to stay awake. Their spirits were willing; however they obviously had not trained their flesh in such a way as to experience victory. Will-power alone could not make these three do what they wanted to do. They had not trained for this.


How many areas of our lives that are marked by habitual sins, bad habits or immoral choices of which we internally scream, “the spirit is willing, but my flesh is so weak!” We all want to experience victory and reach maturity in all areas of our life. However, many never reach maturity in the Christian life. And often it is not because of lack of trying. It is the absense of training. Jesus, the apostles, and the early church fathers embraced the importance of training in the Christian life. It’s not until recent times that we’ve fallen captive to the notion that quick-fixes combined with a dash of will-power can replace adequate soul training. But quick-fixes and spurts of effort cannot rebuild our lives. Our problems go too deep for that. We need something more comprehensive. Something that encompasses the depth of our brokenness and offers a way to be healed. Or, maybe better than something.... a someone. And, I'd argue that that someone is Jesus Christ. He came not only to suffer death on our behalf, but also to model life. He lived his life fully oriented, fully abandoned to the Father. And, in his life, we see that he too implemented training regimens. Like a good trainer, he modeled for us the things we should do, and the spirit by which we should do them. Our training is essentially about following our trainer. We are transformed by practicing what Jesus practiced in the manner he practiced it.

Those things Jesus practiced in his own life historically have been called spiritual disciplines. I like to call them spiritual practices. Whatever word you use, these practices basically are things that we do (in conjunction with God's Spirit) to help orient our hearts, minds and bodies towards the love of Jesus and the goodness of God.

The specific training regimen is based on our personal needs and struggles. Spiritual practices are diverse and flexible and diverse, but always intentional. It might look like prayer for integrity on the way to work . . . or, cracking open the book of Philippians to learn how to embrace joy during times of trial . . .it might consist of withdrawing from others and our "need" to be known and praised by others and taking an hour or two of solitude with God so that we are sourcing our strength and energy from Him, not people. . . Training might look like fasting from something that I normally indulge myself in for a season...could be food, sex, drink, shopping, facebook, or TV, to teach me that I don't feed off of this pleasure/experience alone, but on God. Another way of training might be serving a neighbor in need when I’d rather serve myself . . .

All of these practices (and there are 1000's of expressions of training) become ways of training my self to posture my life towards Jesus. Like physical exercise, no one spiritual exercise does the same thing. In the same way, each spiritual practice helps develop a different parts of the self in different sort of way. But all are bent on accomplishing in us the same goal. Ultimately, it about the transformation of our entire selves into a Jesus kind of person.

The good athlete trains in light of the contest that he will be facing. He recognizes that there will be a test ahead and much training will be necessary in order to experience victory. Trying really hard on game day alone will not suffice. Our lives are quite similar. There are tests ahead that will challenge our honesty, integrity, courage, self-control, patience, fidelity and faith. In life we can assume that these challenges lie before us. The question is how we are preparing for the day when we are tested. As a teacher of mine used to say, “Failing to prepare, is preparing to fail”. There’s much truth here. May our lives be characterized by preparation for the tests through a consistent process of training.
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In summary of the posts on 3 misconceptions about transformation, let me recommend to you a book written by James Bryan Smith. It is called "The Good and Beautiful God" and is a highly practical book dedicated to how transformation takes place in our everyday lives. It incorporates the role of experential learning, pain and the spiritual disciplines (the three topics I've discussed the last three days) in our transformation. I highly recommend that you pick it up.

3 Misconceptions about Transformation

I posted this on a spiritual formation blog a while back. In the next few days, we'll talk about something I believe highly relevant and highly troubling to most people. Authentic life change. How in God's name does it happen? Well, we must first realize that apart from God's name, and apart from his grace and power, it ain't never gonna happen. We desperately need His Spirit at work in us if any authentic change is to take place within the core of our being.

But, I've found that even those who do love God and desire His life to permeate our own lives. . . change is still difficult. We are creatures of habit and have settled into ways of being in the world and patterns of thinking that keep us stagnant.

Paul's names this stuff "the flesh". At whatever else the flesh does, it kills us. Our flesh wars with God's Spirit who wants to breed and reproduce new life, transformation in us.

The good news is that transformation is possible and more than a pipe-dream. But, there are a few misconceptions that I have noticed that keep people from experiencing all that God wants for their lives. And, over the next few days I'd like to address three specific misconceptions that people have about transformation in the way of Jesus.


Misconception #1 “The right knowledge and information will transform my life and make me more like Christ”.

While Bible knowledge is pertinent to us actually knowing who God is and understanding who we are, knowledge alone cannot transform. We have often confused knowing more about Jesus with becoming like Jesus. When I was working with college students, each year we’d tackle a ropes course. Now, before beginning the course each student would receive adequate knowledge about how to traverse the course and assured that course was safe and equipped with certified technicians and working equipment to ensure safety and success. Despite all of this solid information from experienced and trustworthy guides, and despite having being dunned in all the right climbing equipment. . . all this assuring information flew out the window as the students, paralyzed in fear, left the safety of hugging a tree on a sturdy platform and took that first step onto a two inch wire tight-rope swaying 50 feet in the air. You see, the knowledge and information informed their heads, could not transform their terrified hearts. The cerebral part of the self was whispering “this is safe, you'll be fine”, while the terrified heart screamed “Get me off of this thing! This is insane!”

Information has the power to inform, but is powerless to transform. The only way to achieve success on a ropes course is through the experience of actually traversing the course. In many ways experience itself is the primary teacher. You'll not learn a think about a ropes course unless you take that first step.

In the same way, there’s always an experiential element to God’s shaping us into His image. He calls us not only to know, but to trust, to risk, to routinely act upon that which we know in our heads to be true. One area that we are continually building into our lives here at Hayward Wesleyan is the experiential element. As teachers we’re no longer only asking, “what do I want people to know”? But also, we’re asking “how can we provide experiences that help people apply what they have just learned to everyday life experiences? How can we encourage people to take that risky first step?" Rick Warren probably summed it up most vividly. He says, “Information without application is abortion.”

As the life-giving seeds of God's Word is sown into our hearts and minds, we are responsibilt to God to cultivate these seeds of knowledge by putting them into practice in our everyday life. Failure to do so results in an aborted mission. Of course, life-change in Christ sounds real good as we "theorize" about it on Sunday mornings. But, when Monday arrives and we're back dangling 40 feet over our heads in fear and anxiety, it's a different story. The powerful words of Jesus that we gave mental assent to yesterday, seem far more dangerous and risky to listen to when we are being asked to step out in faith and apply them today.

Perhaps it's at these junctures in life where Jesus lovingly smiles and whispers "O ye of little faith." You see, if we do believe in Christ and we intend to become like Him, we must go where he bids us to go. And, like being on the starting platform of an insanely scary ropes course, there are really only two directions to head in. We either back down and retreat to where we once were (and most of us know that there's no future in that), or we step out in our knowledge of Him and take that first step He's calling us to take today.

Instead of making a life out of hovering on platforms and hugging trees for one another day, week, month, year or decade. . .may we remind ourselves that the only knowledge leads to transformation is knowledge that is applied in real-time and real-life. So, just do it. Quit thinking it's going to get easier or less fearful to take that first step. It never will. We must embrace the elements of fear and risk as part of the Jesus journey.

May we each, in some quiet unexpected moment, step into fear and out in faith and take that first step. And, at that moment, may we discover the joy of being one step closer to becoming our truest selves. . . .one step closer to becoming what God has intended us to become.

A Summer's Resolution

Several years ago I remember taking Jackson, who was about 3 at the time, down to Minneapolis. Destination: Camp Snoopy in the Mall of America.

We arrived Friday night at my in-laws house in Minneapolis around twilight. During the last hour of daylight Jackson and I decided to explore a small playground down the road from the house. As we made castles in the sand, discovered ant hills together and played on an old swing I couldn't help but think how much more fun tomorrow would hold at the amusement park. As we headed in for the evening, hand in hand, I remember thinking, "If you thought this night was fun buddy, just wait till tomorrow. You'll be in heaven."

Hell might have been a closer metaphor. All those rides. All that junk food. All those people. And to top it all off a three-story statue of snoopy. None of it seemed to satisfy my son that day. Over-stimulation. Over-saturation. Over-kill. And he was overcome. So was I!

As I carried my tear-filled, snotty-nosed, fatigued son through the mall towards the car that day I thought about the simplicity of the playground the night prior. How much more fun we had playing in the sand than conquering lego-land. On the drive home, I thought a lot about MORE and LESS and how they relate to our contentment as people.

Then it occurred to me. It's simplicity, not saturation that's the gateway to gratitude.

Whether kids or adults, we get duped into this lie that the more we have the more content and more grateful we will be. Actually, just the opposite is true. It's in simplicity that we become more grateful. Often when we have less, we learn to appreciate and to be content with the Father's gifts. Simplicity, not saturation is the gateway to gratitude.

During this summer season, I encourage you to be done with the saturated life of MORE. Stop attempting to quench your thirst by drinking out of a fire hydrant! Look for fresh splashes of the clean and refreshing water of God's gifts. And, those droplets of living water are usually organic and ordinary, appear in the mundane aspects of everyday life and come to us free of admission. They might look like a deep soul-talk with a friend, enjoying the juicy taste of a fresh cantelope, sharing a belly laugh with family member or enjoying God as he paints a sunset at the end your tiresome day.

One author expressed a key truth when he confessed, "Contentment is not having all you want. Contentment is wanting all that you have." As we move from saturation back to simplicity, we'll discover that we already have all we need and find deeper contentment and abundance in our lives. For many the thought of living more simply equates to living with less. And, in one sense, that's true. Sure, simplicity means less stuff jammed into your life. But within simplicity we also discover a great Biblical paradox that less is more.

Lord, in these next few months of summer let me release saturation and embrace the simplicity of a child. In that simplicity, allow me to see your world afresh by loving deeper and living richer. Help me to truly want those precious gifts that you have already given to me. Teach me to lean into all that I have at my disposal. And, guard my heart from the lie that I need more to be content. As I inhale the practice of simplicity this summer, may I exhale a heart of abundant gratitude. Amen.

Chewing with our Hearts Open

"And, on His Law he meditates day and night."

Meditation gets a bad rap in contemporary Christian culture. We have been so thorough in our repudiation of any word, concept or idea that might be confused with another religion, that we have done great harm to the commandments of God in the Scriptures. I have read Christian authors who are so phobic of being "new age" that they have killed every Biblical practice that incidentally uses the same verbiage.

We must keep in mind that much that is written about meditation is not new age, but old age. It dates back three thousand years to a man name David who wrote much about the importance of setting the mind on the LORD and his Word. As Christians, we may need to re-define and refine terms we use so as to be thoroughly Biblical and not be confused with the practices of other religions. However, to repudiate these terms simply because they have been borrowed by other religious traditions is ridiculous.

In my reading of the Psalms the word meditate pops off the page often. The Hebrew word for meditate has connotations of "ruminating" or "chewing on" God's law. The word picture here might be one of letting God's Word sink inside the mouth of the mind and not simply taking a quick taste, but chewing on it. Sucking the flavor, the significance, the meaning and the personal application out of it. And, keeping that God-food in our mouths long enough for it to begin to digest deep down inside our person bringing life, wholeness and direction into our lives. If we are feasting on the Word in this way, I believe we've begun to learn how to meditate.

In a fast food culture where our own tasting, chewing and eating habits leave something to be desired, I assume that our meditative habits need some reformation to.

How do you meditate? When do you meditate? Do you see this as a counter-cultural practice in an "eat and run" society? I'm interested to hear your reply.