Practicing the Way: Be with Jesus. Become like him. Do as he did.

by John Mark Comer

Spiritual formation isn’t a Christian thing; it’s a human thing.

working definition of spiritual formation in the Way of Jesus: the process of being formed into people of love in Christ.

This, then, is spiritual formation: the process of being formed into a person of self-giving love through deepening surrender to and union with the Trinity.

A lot of churches operate on the assumption that as a person’s knowledge of the Bible increases, their maturity will increase with it.

it’s far easier to go to church once a week chasing a spiritual high and angle for a download from heaven than to do the daily, unglamorous work of discipleship.

The problem is not that Westerners view sin through the lens of guilt/innocence, but that they often view it solely from this one angle and, in doing so, miss the full picture.

It is only when we are honest with God, others, and ourselves about all the ways we fall short of love that we enter into the transformational process of becoming more loving.

spiritual formation in the Way of Jesus begins with the healing of our false images of God.

“Those who love their dream of a Christian community more than they love the Christian community itself become destroyers of that Christian community even though their personal intentions may be ever so honest, earnest, and sacrificial.”[55]

We’re witnesses, not salespeople. Our job is not to “close the deal” with the right technique, but simply to bear witness to our life with Jesus.

salvation is some kind of a mysterious mix of God’s initiative and human response.

If you want more of God, give him away.