What is the Christian life all about? Sometimes we find ourselves wondering “What is the purpose of the Christian life?” Who can deny that it is important to have a general idea of what discipleship and spiritual formation are all about. What are we supposed to focus our energies on in the Christian life? And what is spiritual formation according to Scripture? One place we can find this in Scripture is in Paul’s prayers for the churches. One particularly helpful prayer for spiritual growth is at Philippians 1:9-11:
“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.” (NIV)
The progression in this prayer is fascinating. It tells us a lot about the purpose of the Christian life. First, God wants our love to grow. Second, love should grow “in” knowledge and insight. “In” has a wide range of meaning but it probably refers to love growing as our knowledge grows, and to love and knowledge reinforcing each other. Third, that this knowledge and love will produce discernment of the best things. This world is a mixture of good and bad, and so are we, so discernment is highly valued. Also, discernment requires spiritual growth; there is no simple formula. Fourth, that we would be pure disciples when Jesus begins the next age, when God makes everything good again. How sad it will be if we are holding on to corruption when Jesus returns. Our growing love and knowledge should be purifying us for that day.
“Third, that this knowledge and love will produce discernment of the best things. This world is a mixture of good and bad, and so are we, so discernment is highly valued.”
Fifth, the purpose of the Christian life is that we would be full of the fruit that comes through Jesus. In other words, that in our relationships we demonstrate love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, humility and self-control. These fruits are the proof of true discipleship and spiritual growth. Finally, the sixth point is that our spiritual formation, our Christformation, magnifies the beauty and goodness of God and causes all creation to praise Him. Thus, the purpose of all this is to glorify and love God.
What an incredible overview of spiritual growth! It is good to swallow this prayer as a whole once we have studied and understood it. It gives us a picture worth a thousand words. It helps us to feel what discipleship truly means. It answers the question: “What is the purpose of the Christian life?”
Can you adopt this prayer as a description of the purpose of your life?
