GodReflection: Power Word Wednesday
Formation should be among my life’s primary objectives.
Tied to God, I can make a case for formation as His primary objective.
God formed body and soul through the act of birth. My first breathe of inhaled air activated a living soul.
Without even a hint of doubt, I rest assured that God formed who I know as me. The prophet Isaiah provides an insight. God calls me by His name and created me for His glory, He formed and made me. (Isaiah 43:7)
Scripture describes a second form. This is what the Lord says, he who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it—the Lord is his name. (Jeremiah 33:2)
I walk upon dirt formed by God, Son, and Spirit. I worship the Godhead who formed celestial bodies, sky, rivers, plants, and all life that walks, flies, and swims.
There is yet a third form described by the Holy.
Once I sign on with Jesus I discover my power to walk in his company comes from the Holy Spirit that lives within. He dwells in me. My primary task upon the face of the earth now becomes to allow Christ to form in me. (Galatians 4:19)
That brings forth another exclamation of wow.
This is what I think that means for me.
Each day I increasingly notice my role is not to do but rather to submit. That means for this Baby Boomer—who is so adept at the creation of To Do Lists—submission is my only task so that Christ can form in me.
Think of the implications.
To the degree that I whittle away my control gene, I allow submission to escape into the heart of Jesus.
Jesus takes my submission gift and forms himself to occupy a greater space within me.
From the Christ whose formation in me increases, there results an increased flow of the living Jesus flowing from within me onto the path of my walk.
I think of yet a fourth powerful formation. At the same time Jesus is forming an increased presence in me, he is also forming his body—those who follow the way. Over the centuries, the word church came to describe his body.
Paul seems to like the body analogy. He writes
So in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others . . . Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ . . . For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
The Holy generates formation. It is Christ’s church.
Once again, I find my role in the process to be submission.
I function along with others as a body member. However, the body is the body of Jesus. He is the head. My place isn’t to judge the claim of a fellow traveler who honors Jesus and claims membership in the body. I don’t form the body. That is Jesus’ role. It is his church.
The power word for today is my realization that the Holy generates formation and my response is nothing more than contrite submission.
If I would be consistent in this one concept then more room for the Holy would result in my own walk, don’t you think?
Stay tuned.
Dr. Gary J. Sorrells – A GodReflection on God’s Power of Formation.
God Reflection 