A Recipe for Transformation

A hermit said, ‘We do not make progress because we do not realize how much we can do. We lose interest in the work we have begun, and we want to be good without even trying.’

Transformation has three ingredients, two of which are provided by you: time and effort. If you want to become a new person in Christ, you have to put in the work, and it’ll take a while. Thankfully, the third ingredient—the one we don’t have to provide—is the power of God’s Holy Spirit. Over time, the Spirit of God can use the efforts we make to bring about incredible change in our lives. That’s how I understand Paul’s words in Philippians chapter 2:

… work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (2:12-13)

You and I need to do the work of leaving our old ways behind, but, at the same time, the Lord is at work in us, through the Spirit, enabling us to become new people, people who desire the things God desires and pursue the things God pursues.

But that hermit out in the desert named two challenges: “We lose interest in the work we have begun, and we want to be good without even trying.” In other words, we lose interest and give up on the work we’ve begun too soon—we don’t give the Spirit time to cook—and we don’t try: we look for shortcuts, for transformation minus the effort.

I imagine that, many times, we give up too soon because we get discouraged. We aren’t seeing the results we want yet, so we throw in the towel. I heard author Jon Acuff share in an interview recently about someone who told him they weren’t losing the weight the wanted and were giving up on an exercise regimen. When he asked how long it took them to gain the weight and how long they tried the exercise, they said that they gained the weight over ten years and tried the exercise for ten days. Acuff was dumbfounded. “You gave the problem a decade to develop and the solution ten days??” Some of the bad habits and sinful attitudes we want to jettison took twenty or thirty years to develop. Forging new habits and new attitudes will take time. Don’t give up.

I also imagine that, often, we don’t want to try because we think that reading the Bible, praying, and going to church are all you need to be a growing disciple. But following Jesus is like anything you want to get good at: it takes practice. Patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control, and the other fruit of the Spirit grow when we put in the work tilling the ground, sowing the seed, and watering the seedlings. Keeping your cool, for instance, is a virtue you develop incrementally, as you intentionally work on not losing your temper with that person, or in this situation. You can’t be good without trying.

And, on the flip side, if you want to make progress, you need to realize how much you can do. Your efforts make a difference. You hold in your hand the key to starting that new life. It might take it a while to crank up, but if you do your part, you’ll be amazed what the Holy Spirit can do with that.

Don’t give up. Don’t look for shortcuts. If you commit to this work, you’ll see just how much you, and God working in you, can do.

You can also listen to this week's devotional!

Choose Your Armor

A hermit was asked why we are troubled by demons and he answered, 'Because we throw away our armor, that is, humility, poverty, patience and men's scorn.'

Roman general or emperor's armor

In scripture, a lot of things are described as “armor” for Christians. There’s a famous passage in Ephesians where Paul talks about putting on “the full armor of God”—including the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, the helmet of salvation, and more (6:13-17). There’s a less famous passage in 1 Thessalonians where Paul says,

You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness… since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. (5:5, 8)

What’s all this protective gear for? Well, Paul mentions that shield of faith can “stop the fiery arrows of the devil.” (Eph 6:16) This spiritual armor guards us against the attacks of the tempter.

In that hermit’s case, he knew that monks were vulnerable to demonic schemes when they set aside their armor: humility, patience, and a disregard for worldly treasures and acclaim. Without that protection, they were susceptible to temptations from within (self-importance, faultfinding, anger, testiness) and from without (money, sex, status).

Each person has their unique struggles, the particular temptations that so easily hook us and reel us in. And for each specific temptation, there’s specific armor.

If you’re tempted to automatically return fire at every perceived criticism, highlight someone’s every mistake but none of their successes, or make any hurtful joke that pops into your mind, you may need to practice putting on the armor of quiet—being routinely slow to speak—and thoughtfulness—never opening your mouth without considering your words. If that’s my habit seven days a week, I’ll have holier impulses and reactions on the days when those temptations present themselves.

If you’re tempted to hurry anyone who’s interrupting your flow (“Can we get to the point?”), rage against every red light or slow driver stretching out your drive, or let your sighs or your facial expression communicate just how little time you have for this person right now, you may need to try on some armor: like humility—what I’m doing that doesn’t involve them isn’t any more valuable that what they’re doing that involves me—and love—instead of asking ‘how can I get out of this situation’, asking ‘how can I serve them in this moment?’ If I’m deliberately exercising those spiritual muscles day-in, day-out, they’ll be strong when temptation knocks.

Whatever your struggle is, there’s armor for that.

But putting on the armor you need requires some honest reflection: What temptations am I most vulnerable to? What are some habits of the heart and mind that could keep me protected when those temptations arise? Do I normally put that armor on, or do I usually throw it away?

Whatever it is—self-awareness, accountability, generosity, gratitude, intentionality, listening, apologizing, showing love to undeserving people—I hope you’ll spend some time choosing the right armor today and commit not to throw it away.

You can listen to this devotional right here!

Effort, Patience, and God's Help

One time, this monk who’d left everything to follow Jesus in the desert got fed up with the other monks living with him. The constant interruptions and chatter were so irritating that he decided to go live in a cave by himself. (Who hasn't been there?) Maybe then, he thought, he wouldn’t be angry all the time.

But one day he filled his jug with water and put it on the ground. Suddenly it happened to fall over. He filled it again, and it fell again. This happened a third time. In a rage he snatched up the jug and smashed it. Coming to his senses, he knew that the demon of anger had mocked him, and he said, ‘Here I am by myself, and he has beaten me. I will return to the community. Wherever you live, you need effort and patience and above all God’s help.’ So he got up, and went back.

Wherever you live, you need effort and patience and above all God’s help.

Sometimes we look at our circumstances or the people around us and think ‘If this or that would just change, my life would be so much better.’ But, whatever else is going on, whoever else is in your life, the common denominator through it all is the person in the mirror. A struggle with anger, for instance, isn’t a them problem, it’s a me problem. And I can’t change external factors to solve an internal problem. Wherever I live, whomever I live with, I'll need effort, patience, and God’s help.

Effort because love, forgiveness, kindness, selflessness—the things that life demands every day—aren’t easy. Paul encourages the Thessalonians not to “grow weary in doing good,” (1 Thess 3:13) because he knows that life is hard work and can wear you down.

Patience because you will screw up and let yourself and others down, and other people will disappoint or hurt you, too. “Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.” (Eph 4:2) That patience is just what Christianity looks like.

And God’s help because there will be days, months, even years, when you’ve hit your limit, and you are all out of patience or just don’t feel like making an effort. You can’t always sustain that kind of life yourself. Which is why the psalmist says, “Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me.” (Ps 54:4)

If your circumstances or the people in your life are starting to bring out the worst in you or making you daydream about entering the witness protection program, maybe you need to honestly ask: could I be more patient than I have been with this person, or in this situation? Could I make more of an effort to bring some peace or resolution to all of this friction and turmoil?

Or, if you’re just exhausted or coming up short, maybe it’s time to say: Okay, Holy Spirit. I need your help here. I need you to sustain me.

You can listen to today's devotional right here:

The Power of Humility

Monk: 1, Demon: 0

We’re still doing Lent with the Desert Fathers, those ancient Christian monks who gave up everything to follow Jesus out in the desert. One thing that you’ll notice if you read much from or about these fellows is that spiritual warfare was very real for them. In these stories, they encounter and battle with demons in all kinds of literal ways that I’ve never experienced. And so you’ll find episodes like this one:

A demoniac, frothing terribly at the mouth, struck an old hermit on the jaw, and he turned the other cheek. This humility tortured the demon like flames, and drove him out there and then.

When I think about “turning the other cheek”—like Jesus challenges us to do in Matthew 5:39—I think immediately of self-control. You need enough restraint not to sock them right back in their jaw. It’s about having the self-control to resist that impulse to get payback. 

But here, turning the other cheek is described not as self-control but as humility. Because, to resist the urge to get even is to allow yourself to be treated as less than without making a fuss. It tells someone: ‘Yes, you can act like you matter more than I do, like you’re more valuable than I am’. It’s not true, but it takes great humbleness to accept that kind of treatment without protesting or seeking revenge.

And that humility shows much greater strength than any kind of retaliation. It takes a lot more effort to resist anger and indignation than to give in to them. Besides, if you try to hit that demon back, you’re about to get steamrolled. Just ask the seven sons of Sceva, who got into an altercation with a demon-possessed man in a wild scene in Acts 19:

Some… tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. (9:13-16)

You can’t out-muscle evil and overcome it on its own terms—but you can overcome evil with good (Rom 12:21). Humility, what seems like weakness, overwhelms and drives away demonic, evil powers, for “when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor 12:10).

The next time somebody gives you an opportunity to turn the other cheek—either literally, or more figuratively—before you decline and return fire, remember that refusing to hit back isn’t a failure, just ‘letting them walk all over you’, not standing up for yourself. Refusing to hit back is an act of humble obedience to Jesus, who turned the other cheek all the way to beatings and nails and death. And this act has the power to defuse situations and to stop evil and ill-will from multiplying.

Torture those demons like flames. Drive them out. Show them the power of humility.

Listen to today's devotional here!

Wearing Away the Stone

Today I want to share another word from our friend Poemen, from last week. A monk named John went to see him, because he wanted to learn about hardness of heart. Poemen told John,

The nature of water is soft; the nature of stone is hard; but if a bottle is hung above a stone letting water drip down, it wears away the stone. It is like that with the word of God; it is soft and our heart is hard, but if a man hears the word of God often, it will break open his heart to the fear of God.

And the fear of God, Proverbs tells us, is the beginning of wisdom (9:10) and a fountain of life (14:27).

I love this picture of the slow drip of God’s word that erodes our hard hearts. When I think about the power of scripture to change our lives, Hebrews 4:12 comes to mind:

For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, even penetrating as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

The words of scripture will cut right through you, down deep, straight to the heart.

But, in my experience, the Bible doesn’t usually hit you like a bolt of lightning. It’s not as fast and clean as a blade slicing through something. Scripture is powerful, but often its impact unfolds slowly.

Maybe it’s a passage that you need to hear ten times before the application to your life becomes clear.

Maybe it’s an idea the Bible has to present ten different ways before the meaning really clicks for you.

Maybe it’s a teaching that you didn’t appreciate on paper until some experience out in the world brought it to life.

However it happens, it’s that drip, drip, drip of God’s word, the repeated encounters with the Holy Spirit through scripture, that finally reaches your heart and can transform its thoughts and intentions. It’s steady exposure to the Bible over time that molds us into the people we were created to be.

All kinds of situations can calcify our hearts. Sometimes for very understandable reasons! Lies, wounds, insults, and betrayals can leave our hearts rock hard where certain people are concerned. But your experiences, your history, and your upbringing can leave you hardened by prejudices, too. Likewise, the steady drip of news and social media can harden our hearts against particular groups of people or causes.

When this stony exterior prevents us from understanding and loving and serving our neighbors, we need that living and active word to get to work on us. When we’re hardened against people whom Jesus died for, we need the word of God to wear away the stone and break open our hearts.

Don’t put off opening your Bible today. Don’t let your phone distract you or your real busyness overwhelm you. Make time for a few drops. Do it again tomorrow. You may not see any immediate benefit, but give it time. Water carved the Grand Canyon. Eventually, this steady drip can make something incredible in your life, too.

Listen to this week's devotional here!