Until Christ Is Formed In You

by Jenna Henderson

Sunday, January 24, 2010

At leadership on Friday, we had a guest speaker who came to talk on the subject of spiritual maturity (which has been the subject all semester...just in different contexts/ different viewpoints).

Called out. Absolutely.

He talked a lot about spending time in the word and knowing it, not just to know it, but know it because you know Christ. He talked about waking up in the morning hungering for the word and also about spending more time during the day with Christ than you do entering the world of students.  I think that in the past 5 years of leading, I have learned that the only good I can offer these students comes directly from my time with the Lord. I definitely used to just be all about going out and being around the school without worrying whether or not I had spent time with the Lord that day. This has definitely been a lesson learned through experience, so what he was saying I knew, I had learned these past 5 years. 

But.  It is good to be reminded of the urgency. it is good to be called out about only spending 15-30 minutes with the Lord in the morning and spending a couple hours that night at a game or at club. 

But more so than all of this is how far I am from Christ being formed in me. So much of my day to day life is me. It is me going about a day planned by me. When Paul said in Galatians, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me", I can't say that I no longer live, and I hate that. 

The picture above is of a gift from a good friend that I have hanging on the door to my room. it is the fruit of the spirit. This is what I want to see more of in my day to day life. I want to embody those things. I want Christ to live through me, and He embodies those things. I certainly do not on my own. So, until He is formed in me, this is my prayer. I want more of Him and less of me. I also want to keep getting called out. I don't want to be as comfortable as I generally am.