The Formation Process
In his book Invitation to a Journey, Robert Mulholland offers this description of spiritual formation:
“Spiritual formation is a process of being formed in the image of Christ for the sake of others.”
Spiritual formation is a process, not an event. It usually moves slower than we would prefer and with considerable mystery as to what is happening at the moment. My desire for instant gratification and certainty is challenged to an uncomfortable degree.
Spiritual formation is being formed by God toward wholeness, which challenges my desperate need to be in control of my existence. “Being formed” emphasizes that “God is the initiator of our growth towards wholeness, and we are to be pliable clay in God’s hand.”
Spiritual formation in the image of Christ challenges my desire to arbitrarily pick some appealing Christian virtues, “reinvent myself,” and create a god in my image. The image of Christ is the ultimate picture of human wholeness and the desire of every believer’s heart. Further, Christian spiritual formation is “cruciform in the essence of its nature; a dying is involved in our growth toward wholeness, a cross on which we lose our old self with its bondages and brokenness.” Honestly, I want that, and I don’t.
Finally, healing happens as we nurture one another toward wholeness. Spiritual formation is not just a matter of the individual and God, which challenges me to be humble enough to share my weaknesses with others and offer the same for them.
Since I’ve been exploring Mulholland’s thinking on formation, I have been more searched out by God and exposed than ever, but I am also more engaged and in love with God than ever.
In my next post, I’ll unpack the above four dimensions.
