One telltale sign of your spiritual health

"Let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy."

~ Ephesians 4:23-24

Have you ever watched a film crew transform a place into something else?

I remember a few years ago watching Steveston Village change into Storybrooke for the filming of "Once Upon a Time."  It was a fascinating process.  The store signs I knew changed to Storybrooke signs.  Workers in reflective vests milled around like ants, but there was a method to their madness, and slowly the whole Village transformed.

Transformation can be a great thing or an awful thing, depending on what we are changing into.  Becoming more like Jesus - his love, his sense of justice for the downtrodden, his pure heart - is a beautiful transformation.  But we can also change to become more like the brokenness of the world - loving money, no compassion for the hurting, selfishness taking root in our heart.

Here's the thing I've learned about change: transformation into the character of Jesus is a scary process. God stretches us beyond our human limits or takes us through difficult moments in order to scrape away unhealthy character traits and teach us dependence on him. However, we don't normally choose the difficult path. We have to want that inward change in order to continue down the road.

Conversely, transformation to a more unloving heart is a lazy process.  Usually we don't notice, don't care, and just slide into bad character or selfish behaviour.

In fact, one of telling signs of our life direction is simply whether we care or not. If we care about being formed into the character of Jesus, we will want the transformation and stay on the path, even when it becomes difficult. However, if we no longer care, we will always make the easy choice and take the route of least resistance, which invariably leads toward selfishness.

PAUSE and REFLECT: 

Ask yourself today, "Do I care? Do I care about following Jesus? about having the character of Jesus? about the people God loves? about Steveston Village (or wherever you live)? Are these things still important to me?"

Sometimes we stop caring simply because we're burnt out. We'd like to care, but we're too tired to do so. That's not what I'm talking about here (because we want to want to care, but don't have the capacity to do so). In these cases the best thing to do is rest.

However, if we've stopped caring and no longer even want to be a caring person, that is a red flag for our emotional and spiritual health. If you're in this place, I strongly recommend you talk to someone about it.

God is for you. He is for your flourishing, for when you flourish you reflect the love and glory of God all around you. When we stop caring, we stop flourishing.

How might God be inviting you to take your next step to a flourishing life today?

A SPIRITUAL EXERCISE: 

Take a moment to be quiet and have a few deep breaths.

Draw your awareness inward and ask God to show you your heart. In his very kind and loving way, what does he want you to know about yourself?

Then ask him how he'd like to fill your heart and develop the love of Jesus in you.

How would you like to respond to him?

Finally rest in his presence. You don't have to do anything. Just know you are loved.