Hey friends,
Today we step into the final part of the Threefold Way — the Unitive Way. This is where all the little ways God has been shaping us begin to come together, and our lives start to feel more whole and at peace. In this place, we learn to rest in God’s love, to trust his will, and to see our hearts turning outward in love for others.
Spiritual formation begins and ends with love. If we don’t hear this repeatedly, then we’ll be tempted to twist the journey with Jesus into some kind of achievement scheme or self-improvement project.
The way of Christ is not about earning righteousness or self-development. It’s the total transformation of the human personality into the likeness of Jesus Christ: body, mind, heart, and soul. It starts with a spark and ends ablaze, in a loving union of wills.
Human beings were designed with this kind of love in mind. Without it, we’re not really human; we’re just animated cadavers. When the Spirit awakens us with his love, we come to see ourselves utterly known and loved by God. There’s nothing we can do to make him love us more, and there’s nothing we can do to make him love us less.
But what we often fail to recognize is that not only are we unconditionally loved, but God is conditioning us for love—to become love; to be remade into the divine likeness; to burn with an unrelenting fire; to be swept away by that infinite rush of goodness, like the south wind warms and renews the tired and frigid plain. He sweeps upon us, whispering, “Come to me. You are now but a dim mirror. I will rinse you, clean you, fill you with my light. I will make you shine brighter than a thousand galaxies.” This is God at work in the world. Not just to awaken us to love, but to love us so completely until we join him and become love ourselves.
Room to Reflect
What does it mean for me personally that spiritual formation is about being transformed into the likeness of Christ, not self-improvement?
How do I respond to the truth that there is nothing I can do to make God love me more or less?
What practical step could I take this week to live more out of love than out of striving or self-focus?