As a follower of Jesus, we know that surrendering control of each area of our lives is necessary to become like Jesus. But this doesn’t mean that taking up our cross daily and following Him is easy. In this reading plan, we will consider a reliable pattern for how spiritual formation into the image of Christ actually happens.OnThe3rdDay
Day 1
Scriptures: 1 Peter 1:3-5, Jeremiah 17:9, Romans 3:10-11, Romans 3:18
Redeemed But Not Yet Renovated
Imagine your life is like a house with many rooms. Throughout your life, Jesus stands at your front door, gently knocking, waiting for you to open the door of your life to Him. His knocking represents an open invitation into a personal relationship with God made possible through His life, death, and resurrection (see 1 Peter 1:3-5). When we take that first step of surrender by opening the door of our house and inviting Jesus into our lives to be our Lord and Savior, we begin a lifelong journey of spiritual transformation into His image.
But because Jesus does not require that we clean ourselves up before inviting Him into our life, we have been redeemed by His blood but not yet transformed into His image. Praise God that He meets us right where we are in our mess. In the initial stages of transformation, we spend most of our time with Him in the entryway of our house. Not because He doesn’t want a complete tour of our place but mainly because most of the other rooms in our house remain closed off to Him. We are redeemed but not yet renovated.
In order to progress on our journey of being formed into the image of Christ in every area of our lives, we need to understand and acknowledge the true condition of our hearts. In the words of Dallas Willard, “We must see the soul and the person in its ruined condition, with its malformed and dysfunctional mind, feelings, body, and social relations before we can understand that it must be delivered and reformed and how that can be done.”
Additionally, the prophet Jeremiah paints a picture of our “ruined condition” this way, “The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse – who can understand it?” (See Jeremiah 17:9) And the Apostle Paul writing to the church in Rome, said, “There is no one who is righteous, not even one; there is no one who has understanding, there is no one who seeks God. All have turned aside… There is no fear of God before their eyes (Romans 3:10-11, 18).”
I know these words can be hard to accept, especially in a world where we tend to see ourselves as generally good people. However, even after taking our initial step to let Jesus come into our house, we need to come to grips with the reality that we still have many rooms that have been formed by a world set against the ways of God. Thus, we must understand where we are starting from on our journey to become more like Jesus.
Today, as painful as it may sound, ask God to reveal to you one or more of the rooms in your house that have not yet been formed into His image.
Day 2
Scriptures: Matthew 16:24-25, Matthew 10:38-39, John 12:24-26
The Cross and Self-Denial
As time goes on and we continue to walk with Jesus, He begins to, one by one, knock at the door of each of the closed-off rooms in our house. Rooms where the door is locked, and we are sitting alone in our mess, unwilling to surrender control. Take heart that Jesus is standing on the other side of the door, patiently knocking, waiting for us to let Him come in. He desires nothing more than to come in and transform this area of our life into His image, but He will not force His way into the room. The question becomes, will we walk over to the door, turn the knob, and let Him come in? Will we surrender or choose to tighten our grip on control? At this point in the process, the decision lies squarely with you and me.
John Calvin described this decision beautifully when he said, “For as the surest source of destruction to men is to obey themselves so the only haven of safety is to have no other will, no other wisdom than to follow the Lord wherever he leads.” It may seem odd to think about giving up complete control of every area of your life as a haven of safety. But this is precisely the vision of the Kingdom of Heaven that Jesus presented to His followers in the Gospel of Matthew when He said, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” (see Matthew 16:24-25) As counter-cultural as it may be, there is safety in surrender.
So what exactly is Jesus offering to you and me if we are willing to surrender our lives to Him and the advancement of His Kingdom? He is offering to exchange, not just enhance, the ruined condition of our hearts for a life found only in Him.
Our path out of the darkness is only possible through a surrendered heart that is continuously transferring control over to Jesus. As we transfer control in each area of our life – each room in our house – over to Jesus, He transforms us into His perfect image.
Today as you go, consider offering up the following prayer to Jesus. “Lord, thank you for continuously pursuing me in the areas of my life that I have been unwilling to surrender to your will. Fling open the door of my heart that every area of my life might be renovated into Your image. And through Your grace help me to daily take up my cross exchanging my life for the path that You have laid out before me.”
Day 3
Scriptures: Colossians 1:13, Acts 26:18, Ephesians 6:11-12
Renovation of the Heart Follows a Reliable Pattern
So far in this reading plan, we have considered that our life is like a house with many rooms. Each room in our house- represents who we are at a heart level formed by a world set against the ways of God. Indeed we have been redeemed by the blood of Christ but require a complete renovation of our hearts.
Some rooms in our house have a sign on the door that reads “anger,” “greed,” or “comparison,” each representing points of our unlikeness to Christ. Still, other rooms display a sign on the door that reads “unloving,” “lacks joy,” or “void of peace,” representing an area of our heart that has yet to “take on” the character of Christ. Renovation of our hearts into the image of Christ follows a reliable pattern – revelation, surrender, and transformation. God has a role in the process, but so do you and me.
God always makes the first move. He is the one knocking at the door of each of the closed-off rooms in our house. Each knock represents an open invitation to “rescue us from the power of darkness” in which we are deeply entangled (see Colossians 1:13). Through His revelation, our eyes are opened, enabling us to see clearly our unlikeness to Him.
To be clear, there is absolutely nothing we can do to earn our salvation. Still, we have a role to play in the ongoing process where every room in our house needs to be renovated in the image of Christ. So what is our role? Surrender that leads to obedience. M. Robert Mulholland Jr. describes our role as arriving at the “point of saying yes to God at each point of unlikeness [to His image]. We must give God permission to do the work He wants to do- with us right there because transformation will not be forced on us.”
Once we open the door to one of the closed-off rooms in our house, God rushes in and begins to do the work of transformation that only He can do. As much as we may want to, we can’t will ourselves to change, and we can’t just try harder to be “less angry” or “more loving.” What we can do, though, is offer our lives to Christ in ways that posture each area of our unlikeness to Him in surrender, allowing His grace to work through us.
Day 4
Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 3:18, Matthew 5:44, Romans 12:2, 1 John 5:3
A Framework for Spiritual Transformation
Dallas Willard offers us a framework for how spiritual transformation happens. He says, “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 into place properly and held there, Christ simply will not be formed in us.”
Vision is like seeing a picture in your mind of the renovated version of your new home. It sees an “after” picture side-by-side with the current “before” picture in its ruined state. “In the imagery of Christian transformation, vision refers to the ability to see ourselves radically transformed and authentically living life a whole new way in God’s Kingdom on earth – head-over-heels in love with both Creator and his creation (Gary W. Moon).” Vision is being able to read the words of Jesus when he said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” (Matthew 5:44) and actually believing that He is capable of transforming you and me into the kind of people who are capable of loving our enemies.
Intention- is like signing on the dotted line and giving your contractor permission to move forward with your vision for renovating your newly purchased home. Intention is the act of saying to Jesus: I will obey your teaching (see 1 John 5:3), I will submit to your will (see Romans 12:2), and I will sit still long enough in your Presence for you to do what only you can do in my life. Intention requires action on our part. However, it is “not a matter of trying harder, but training wisely (John Ortberg).”
Means- is the materials and tools necessary to renovate your new home. It is the process of demoing a room down to its studs in order to rebuild it from the ground up. Means is the path to change. With the right vision and an intention to obey Jesus’s teaching, we will naturally be led to a means for replacing our ruined inner character exchanging it for the renovated inner character of Jesus.
As you go, please know that spiritual formation in the image of Christ is possible. Throughout each season of life, continue to walk with Jesus in a posture of surrender, watching as He transforms each room in your house.