Category: Interior Life

Contemplation may be defined as quiet receptivity. Contemplation allows the object of our contemplation to impact us. As we focus on Christ we receive his influence. He envelopes us and infuses his peace into us. Teresa of Avila (d. 1582) defined contemplation as loving attentiveness, which is also a helpful definition, though we do not need to feel love for God when we do contemplation. Contemplation teaches us to listen. If God was waiting for you to be still long enough to communicate something important to you, how long would he have to wait? Many of us have busy lives or at least busy minds. God can shout to us if he wants, but he prefers a quieter, deeper connection with us. Contemplation is essentially extended surrendering and listening. A daily habit of several minutes of contemplation will train us to listen to, and receive from, God. Below is a Continue Reading →

Motivation is a monumental issue in our spiritual lives. We will be constantly tempted to embrace motives that damage our spiritual growth. Many of them are disguised. The supreme motive for everything in our life should be our desire for the community of love with God and his followers. It may sound simple to consistently choose this motivation, but it is not. In fact, we will be learning to choose this for our whole lives. When we are young in Christformation we learn to recognize obvious impure motives such as sensual gratification, materialism, retaliation and preoccupation with our image. But after you overcome these there is a whole other set of hidden motives waiting to torpedo your spiritual life. If you are willing to pursue self-knowledge with God (so that you can “put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature” (Col. 3:5, NIV)) then you will discover deeply Continue Reading →

Self-examination and self-knowledge have been considered essential to Christformation throughout church history. In the profound first chapter of his highly influential Institutes of the Christian Religion Calvin said: “It is certain that man never achieves a clear knowledge of himself unless he has first looked upon God’s face, and then descends from contemplating him to scrutinize himself.”[1] One way to make progress against sin is to practice daily self-examination, which is sometimes referred to as examen. You may not need to set aside a time at the end of the day for examen if your occupation allows you to assess your situation before God throughout the day. However, many people find this difficult and creating a set time at the end of the day works better for them. Following is a guide to daily self-examination: Guide to Daily Self-Examination At the end of the day (or during the day if Continue Reading →