Spiritual formation is central to inner life strength

5. I have previously mentioned the “formation” of the inner life. There is, in some traditions within the Christian church, a study made (if not a college degree) in spiritual formation. The term itself suggests that there is education to be done and progress to be made by the believer.

It behooves us to develop and openness to this training and a commitment to this progress. The Bible clearly describes believers in different stages of spiritual growth, including: Infants, babes, children, adults, the mature, as well as weak, strong and spiritual.

Spiritual teachers over the centuries have also talked about the advances that believers should make, using images such as ladders to be climbed by the rung; a mountain to be scaled by stages; a castle being entered from the outer to the innermost chamber.

Medical science has found that exercising the mind can strengthen the brain’s resistance to some forms of dementia. So does the use of the spirit keep the inner life strong, prepared and ready to be put to use by your will once submitted to God.

What if inner life stuff isn't your bag?

4. Every Christian should involve themselves with what to do about their spiritual life. If we are serious students of the interior life, we will want to fully realize Christ’s indwelling and his active influence upon our life.

There is a concern among some, however, that the interior life is only for a particular type of person. In other words, this is not for every Christian. You may know someone who seems to be extremely thoughtful and spiritual. They strike you as “the type.” Those, you may think, are the ones who should really look into this interiority stuff. Since all of us have a different function in the Body of Christ, isn’t it kind of natural to think that an emphasis on the interior life is something that is for some and not for others?

Those spiritual guides who have written about Christian spirituality do not in any way address the student of the interior life as being elite, special or choice Christians. Nor does anything in the faith steer us away from doing all that we can to develop a prayerful inner life in Christ, or tell us to set aside for an instant the hope that we have from the indwelling of Christ in our hearts.

If you have an interior, you should consider your inner life with God and involve yourself in its development.

The real subject is always Jesus

3. A common criticism of the teachings about the interior life is that Christ is not mentioned enough. The subject matter can sometimes seem to stand alone as The Interior Life, when in fact the subject matter IS Christ, His dwelling within us and His influence upon us.

This is what the serious student of the Christian’s interior life truly wants to explore: Christ dwelling within us and through His Spirit exerting His influence upon us.

In interior studies, this can be said in many ways, and it is sometimes left unsaid. Thus, the lack of a direct reference to our Lord Jesus Christ on a page or in a section on the subject is never intended to mean Christ is not all in all. On the contrary, there would be no discussion of the interior life if we did not understand it to be the very place where the Holy Spirit diffuses Christ’s divine life to the believer.

So, let’s be clear – the topic is Christ and His life in me.

Spirituality: A topic that can drag us away from spirituality

2. One of the first things you as a student of the interior spiritual life will be faced with is the tendency to leave the inner life untended while studying about it. We become like artists who leave their studios in order to talk about art – never again to pick up a brush or mix a color.

While it is important to take good direction in matters of the spirit, a good balance must always be maintained. The actual formation of our own spirit occurs when we deliberately place ourselves under the influence of the Spirit of God by what we can generally call our prayerfulness. For the spiritual person, it is needful to be more aware of God’s work within, and to be more deliberate in bringing oneself into the loving embrace of God.

We are not critics or commentators on the spiritual life. We are participants. We are not cheering for the team. We are ON the team.

           So, at the outset, let us not allow the topic of the interior life itself to become a distraction from our involvement in and our connection to that very life.

This is about Jesus ... or alveoli ... or something

1. The first time I mentioned the possibility of writing these short bursts about the inner life, a young Christian friend of mine asked, “Could you be more specific?” Good question, Lane!

“What are you talking about?” is always a fair question. If I know what I am doing, I should be able to answer in one or two sentences.

The inner life is where God dwells within us. We are talking about our spiritual life when we say we have a personal relationship with Christ. Your inner life is where this relationship takes place; where you are transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ.

The alveoli in our lungs act as a permeable barrier through which the oxygen we breathe is diffused into our red blood cells. The alveoli comprise the place where this miraculous exchange is made between the respiratory and circulatory systems.

While oxygen is all around us in the air, it will do us no good unless it becomes a part of our personal biological life. The oxygen out there becomes the oxygen in me.

In the same way, our Lord Christ is out there everywhere with spiritual life. When we become students of the interior life we raise our awareness of the place in me where God makes possible our own spiritual life by his indwelling. He gives us His touch of the divine life, which the Bible refers to as “Christ in me,” “the Spirit of God living in you,” or, simply, “the renewed inner man.”

This blog is about Jesus Christ and his life taking place in us.