Start small for lasting spiritual formation

We talk a lot about living the good life of God’s kingdom here at the Regnare Project. The core question that occupies us is “how do we put into practice all that we’re learning from Jesus about living the good life of God’s kingdom?”

And while we know the life Jesus offers is glorious and good, sometimes following him into that good life sounds like a tall order. Does “obeying everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20) sound hard? Maybe even impossible? It is—for us on our own.

But the life Jesus opened for us doesn’t depend on our strength or skill. That’s the first thing he said in his gospel: “The kingdom of God has come near” (Mark 1:14). All the power we need for the fulfillment of God’s promises is breaking through into the world with Jesus.

This is one of the most important truths to learn in spiritual formation: to grab hold of the magnitude of God’s promises in Scripture and to grasp them as tightly as you can in all their glorious impossibility. Then take whatever tiny step you can toward that impossibility, no matter how strange and trivial that step might seem to you. And then to watch for signs of God’s activity. This is the “loaves and fishes” (Luke 9:10-17) rule of spiritual formation: Jesus takes a small offering from the disciples (a couple of loaves of bread and a couple of small fish) and then feeds thousands with them. God does all the really hard, impossible work, and most of the time we don’t even see the magic of how he does it.

But don’t miss the fact that he waits for our participation. He waits for us to take our small, seemingly insignificant steps to make sure that our will and heart and desire are engaged. Because the alignment of our will and heart and desire is the part he won’t do for us. In some ways, that is the most miraculous part of the transformation.

But once we’re engaged, he moves with us. Then the marvelous impossibilities open up, sometimes a little at a time, sometimes in miraculous surges and leaps we never thought possible. We trust a little—he moves mountains. That’s how it works.

Said a slightly different way:

Matthew 11:28-30: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

A yoke is a harness for multiplying effort in order to get work done. In our case, that work is our transformation from the inside out. We are yoked together with Jesus. It’s unequal work: he does all the hard stuff. But that doesn’t mean we sit on the sidelines and somehow watch him do the work without us. No, we must walk in step with him.

What’s amazing is that somehow, working together with Jesus in this way feels like “rest for our souls”. Even when we push through difficult terrain, we are never alone. We are never without the power we need and never lacking in sure direction. We are never far from the God who loves and cherishes us, leading us toward a secure and glorious destination. One small step at a time.

Up next: what does a small step look like? Take a look at these seven examples of small steps toward the good life with Jesus.