Formed by Jesus, Together, For Others
16 And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. —1 John 4:16 CSB
Have you noticed the gap between what you know and what you do?
What if, instead of starting from the assumption that human beings are thinking things, we started from the conviction that human beings are first and foremost lovers? What if you are defined not by what you know but by what you desire? —James KA Smith, You Are What You Love, 7
By default, our life is shaped by our
for the world.
Lust of the Flesh =
Lust of the Eyes =
Pride in One’s Possessions =
“And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food [the lust of the flesh], and that it was pleasant to the eyes [the lust of the eyes], and a tree to be desired to make one wise [the pride of life], she took of the fruit.” —Genesis 3:6
The world disguises itself as a
but it’s actually a
.
If you worship money and things—if they are where you tap real meaning in life then you will never have enough. Never feel you have enough. It’s the truth. Worship your own body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly, and when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally plant you… Worship power—you will feel weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to keep the fear at bay. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart—you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out. —David Foster Wallace
By design, we are formed by the love of Jesus through the truths of our
and the practice of
.
1 John 4:7-10 CSB
9 truths about your identity in Christ
- Once separated, now joined to Christ (Eph 1:3-14; Union with Christ)
- Once deaf, now given ears to hear (2 Tim. 1:9; Calling)
- Once dead, now made alive (Eph. 2:1-5; Regeneration)
- Once lost, now found (Acts 20:21; Conversion)
- Once condemned, now righteous (Eph. 2:15-16; Justification)
- Once a slave, now a son or daughter (Gal. 3:26; Adoption)
- Once unclean, now holy (Eph. 5:25-27; Sanctification)
- Once unfaithful, not kept by God (Rom. 8:28-39; Preservation)
- Once in shame, now in glory (2 Cor. 3:18; Glorification)
1 John 4:11-16 CSB
Our desires are dictated by
, not by happenstance.
“The church—the body of Christ—is the place where God invites us to renew our loves, reorient our desires, and retrain our appetites.” —James KA Smith, You Are What You Love, 65
This is the fundamental secret of caring for our souls. Our part in thus practicing the presence of God is to direct and redirect our minds constantly to Him. In the early time of our practicing, we may well be challenged by our burdensome habits of dwelling on things less than God. But these are habits—not the law of gravity—and can be broken. A new, grace-filled habit will replace the former ones as we take intentional steps toward keeping God before us. Soon our minds will return to God as the needle of a compass constantly returns to the north, no matter how the compass is moved. —Dallas Willard, Great Omission, 125
2 Practices
1.