Why Spiritual Formation?
by Daniel Riccio
Living Streams Church Elder (and Bible scholar)
Why do we talk about spiritual formation? Sometimes, when I look back at my life, I’m embarrassed by my past struggles or naïve things that I thought while considering myself mature. I am, however, encouraged that I can look back and see change. But then I think, “What might future me think of current me?” I realize I will continue to be formed and changed over the course of my entire life.
The shape of our lives is most influenced by how we answer the question "What do you want?” Our struggles in life come from disordered loves; promoting the wrong things to the place of our ultimate pursuit. The aim of spiritual formation is to put our hearts in order.
Some discipleship approaches only teach correct answers to the question “What do you Want?” If we stop at right answers, we won’t reach the affections of the heart and remain unchanged.
Consider the fictional story of explorers who find a magical place that grants whatever they truly want—not what they say they want, but their deepest unspoken desires. The explorers realize the danger of entering the enchanted place. They hesitate and consider the devastation that might ensue if they don’t want the right things. We too can pause and ask, “What would happen if the things we desire most were granted?” Not what we say we want, but what we really want.
In order to bridge the gap between "what is good for us to want" and "what we actually want", we engage in practices of spiritual formation. Reaction to our out-of-place desires can come in two extremes: either suppressing them or indulging and allowing our longings to rule over us. As a biblical third option, we can learn to have our desires reshaped. Our desires can be formed.
It’s a bit like my taste for coffee. As a young adult I occasionally “tolerated” a cup of coffee. But then I was introduced to frozen, sweetened coffee drinks. In a short time, I developed a habit. I eventually learned that the cost and calories of stylized coffee was too much. So, I eliminated the expensive sweeteners, but not the rich, dark, caffeinated daily retreat. Now, some twenty years later, I rarely go a day without it.
We don’t need to eliminate our desires—we need them reshaped. Addictive behaviors, whether substances or forbidden romance (real or in images), signal a deeper, unmet desire. Underneath these fruitless searches is the desire to find what satisfies the deepest longings of the soul. Desire is not the problem. Shaping or connecting to the deepest human desire is the way forward. We’ve settled for a pottage of bad stew when our birthright tells us we’ve been invited to a banquet of endless delight.
So how do we shape desire? The church word for spiritual practices that shape us is liturgy. Simply defined, liturgy is the work of the people. Besides “church” liturgies, we live in the midst of cultural liturgies without recognizing them. Imagine two young fish swimming along when an older fish comes swimming past. The older greets the two younger fish saying “How’s the water, boys?” The two younger fish swim away and finally one fish asks “What the hell is water?” We don’t realize the “secular” liturgies we live in. We might say, with the fish, “what the hell is a secular liturgy?”
Consider how culture shapes what we want. In ritual fashion we check our phones. We watch our TV’s and take in messages about what the good life is. These are liturgies that have power to form our desires as they whisper the promise that obtaining what’s offered will provide satisfaction for our souls. If we buy in, we will give our life’s energy to obtain what we’ve been led to believe will satisfy our heart. The more energy we spend chasing, the more devoted our hearts become to any given desire.
With spiritual formation, we engage in practices that free us from settling for bad stew. We want to be oriented to true north—to know what’s behind the different versions of the good life being offered. We take part in what frees us from spending our life’s resources on empty things.
The Prophet Isaiah said it like this:
“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk, without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare.” – Isaiah 55:1-2