Formed for the Glory of God: Learning from the Spiritual Practices of Jonathan Edwards

by Kyle Strobel

True religion, as Edwards termed it, or spiritual formation as we have called it, has to do with the divine life given by Christ in his Spirit. Spiritual formation is about learning the way of heaven (or the “song” of heaven) and coming to see reality with one’s heart set firmly in the heavenly country. Heaven breaks into this world through followers of Christ who have been given the Spirit, living out the heavenly life in the here and now. That heavenly life breaks into the present through the gift of Christ who reveals the nature of God. Receiving this sight melts the hearts of those with eyes to see. It is not the physical beauty of Christ that melts hearts, but the revelation of God’s love for his people through Christ. Conversion, we could say, is finally having “eyes to see and ears to hear” (see Mk 4:9; Mt 13:15-16). It is “having the eyes of your hearts enlightened” (Eph 1:18). Conversion is finally grasping that the divine life is offered in Christ, who was sent by the Father to draw you into the divine life of love.