What does it look like to keep ourselves accountable to joining with God on his mission in our neighborhood?
Progressing in our faith can be hard to measure, but I think it is important to think about what maturity looks like as a Christian. Then we can begin to assess our growth.
Self-accountability questions have a spiritual-formation element in that we are able to discern the way that the Spirit has been at work in our lives. The Spirit will gently challenge and affirm where necessary so that we reflect the image of Jesus. There is no need to see accountability questions as guilt-inducing or burdensome if we understand that God’s grace is our foundation.
The definition of spiritual formation, according to Jeffrey Greenman in Life in the Spirit: Spiritual Formation in Theological Perspective, is that spiritual formation is “[our] continuing response to the reality of God’s grace shaping us into the likeness of Jesus Christ, through the work of the Holy Spirit, in the community of faith, for the sake of the world.”
What I love about this definition is that there is a balance between God’s work and our cooperation with an emphasis on community and missional intent. This is the purpose of spiritual practices: They transform us into people who join with God on his mission. What we can also see in this definition is that our goal as Christians is to reflect the likeness of Jesus. Read More
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