A great portion of what is required in my post-grad studies is the reading of books … lots of books. It is so easy to feel so overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the assigned reading. I can see the whole matter as a burden, something one would prefer to avoid, which, of course, is a lost cause if I want to finish the course.
But I can also change my attitude, seeing the task not as a burden but as caboodles of opportunity for learning. And, in future ponderings, you may expect me to pass on the opportunity to you. One book I am currently reading offers one such opportunity—Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines. And I offer this extended quote:
“My central claim is that we can become like Christ by doing one thing—by following him in the overall style of life he chose for himself. If we have faith in Christ, we must believe that he knew how to live. We can, through faith and grace, become like Christ by practicing the types of activities he engaged in, by arranging our whole lives around the activities he himself practiced in order to remain constantly at home in the fellowship of his Father.”
Following Christ is not only about asking, “What would Jesus do” in specific (challenging) situations. It’s about adopting Jesus’ very way of life in all of life—embracing his values and priorities, engaging in his practices, pursuing his purposes. It’s not just about mimicking Christ’s actions. It’s about becoming a person being transformed into the likeness of Christ himself.
The practice of what is known as the spiritual disciplines is, therefore, never an end in itself. The disciplines are designed as tools to help in our formation. They are not the goal; Christ is the goal.
Perhaps that parallels how I should see the requirements that I have to complete for my studies. It’s not just about attending the required classes, or doing the required reading, or submitting the required papers, or passing the required tests. Pursuing my studies ought not to be just to get a bunch of letters attached to my name, but that, going through the process, I would master the information and gain the skills needed to fulfill better my role as a minister of the gospel. It’s about what is being formed in me.
“This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did” (1 John 2.5–6 NIV).
—Keith Y. Jainga