Opening Our Souls to God, Part I

Inner transformation is God's work; it is not something that we can produce by our own effort. That does not mean, however, that we do not have a role to play. We cannot simply sit back and wait for God to transform. In previous posts, we have seen that we have a role to play by surrendering our thoughts, emotions, and desires to God so that he can transform them in positive ways. The power of God enables us to put away those desires and actions that hurt us and replace them with desires and actions that promote health and growth.

How can we tap into the power? How do we prepare ourselves for God's work of renewal? I want to discuss our role in renewal in a series of posts, but in this post I want to lay the foundation by discussing how we can open our souls to God and let him do his work within us.

I. The Goal of Spiritual Growth: The Image of Christ (Rom 8:29)

First, let's remind ourselves of the goal of spiritual growth: "For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters" (Rom 8:29 TNIV). Spiritual growth is the process of being transformed into thte image of Christ.

In the late 15^th century, the Florentine sculptor Agostino d'Antonio began work on a huge block of marble with a view to producing a spectacular sculpture, but after a few futile attempts, he gave it up as worthless. The badly disfigured block of marble lay idle for forty years until Michelangelo came along and saw its potential. Out of that block, he created one of the most outstanding artistic achievements of all time, the statue of David. As he was working on the sculpture, a passerby asked him what he was doing, and he replied that he was releasing an angel from the rock.

God sees within us the image of Christ, and he can release that image into view if we allow him. Although it is God's work to make us like Christ, we must decide that we want to change and grow. We must make an effort to allow God to change us from the inside out.

John 15:5 says that a branch produces grapes by being connected to the vine, which is the source of life. We bear fruit when we are intimately connected with Christ. He provides us with spiritual nourishment and strength. But we must make the effort to attach ourselves to the source of life and to remain attached to him. If we try to grow on our own as a solitary branch detached from the vine, we will wither and die.

We create the environment in which God can bear fruit in our lives by meeting three conditions: belief, discipline, and time.

II. 1^st Condition for Spiritual Growth: Belief

Hebrews 11:6 says that we cannot get close to God without faith. If we want to get close to God, we must believe that he exists. Many people follow false forms of spirituality because they do not accept the reality of God. They do not believe there is a spiritual Being who is the Creator of the universe, the Redeemer of all people, and yet personal enough to desire to know each of us individually. To grow spiritually, we must believe in the reality of the spiritual dimension, and we must believe that at the center of that spiritual dimension and pervading all of reality is a personal God whose primary characteristic is love.

Hebrews 11:6 says that we must also believe that God rewards those who earnestly seek him. There are many who profess belief in God, but it is merely an intellectual assent to certain facts about God. They do not believe that they can truly encounter God, experience him, relate to him, or get to know him on a personal basis. They do not believe that God really hears when they speak to him, and they believe even less that God is able to speak back to them.

The first step of spiritual growth after becoming a Christian is to believe that God cares about us and is intimately involved in every aspect of our lives. One of the greatest advances that I have made in my spiritual progress resulted from reading an author (perhaps Morton Kelsey?) who reminded me that God is not way off somewhere. God is not out there and up there, far beyond my reach, so that I have to grope blindly and struggle to find him in some desperate effort doomed to failure.

Actually, God is as close as my heart. When I was baptized into Christ, God's own Spirit entered my heart and my spirit and now dwells within me. So if I want to be close to God, I do not have to shout upward to him in prayer, hoping that my fervency will catch his attention. Instead, I simply become silent and turn my attention within to experience his presence with me. James 4:8 expresses this idea succinctly: "Come near to God and he will come near to you." Believing that it is possible to be close to God and to know him personally is the first requirement for spiritual growth.

In the next post, I will finish discussing the second and third conditions for spiritual growth.

Reflection Questions

1. What have you been doing to keep yourself attached to Christ? What can you do in the future to stay connected to him?

2. Examine your beliefs about God. Do you doubt that he exists? Do you believe he cares for you? Do you believe he wants you to know him?

3. How would it affect your relationship with God if you understood that he is as close as your heart?

Next Topic: Opening Our Souls to God, Part II