A Word to the Wise: You Can’t Life-Hack Your Way to Holiness (Trevin Wax)
The center of spiritual formation isn’t about what you do or the practices you adopt—it’s about the Spirit forming you into Christ's image. The spiritual life is more about learning to abide in Christ than about following a pattern or liturgy, however helpful your practices may be. The point isn't just to do your duty but to trust the Spirit to transpose your desires and transform you into a different kind of person over time.
Spiritual growth requires attention. And attention is our most precious resource. Prayer is hard, often boring, and sometimes excruciating. Sitting in silence before God while our thoughts flit about can be a painfully revealing process of where our hearts are drawn. Kyle Strobel warns that we might turn to tools and techniques as a way to avoid a genuine encounter with God. Blaise Pascal noted that humanity's problems stem from our inability to sit quietly alone in a room. If that was true in his day, how much more so in our age of endless distractions?
Life hacks prioritize speed and efficiency, and they promise quick results. Yet those who walk with grace over decades often seem unhurried. They don’t obsess over tools or methods. They embrace each moment as a gift, focus on the person before them, and don’t view prayer as a productivity tool but as a way to commune with God. Setbacks and distractions aren’t obstacles to spiritual growth but part of the process of renewal.
I’m grateful for the tools and techniques that aid in spiritual growth. But I’m even more thankful we cannot life-hack our way to holiness. The Spirit is essential, not peripheral. His work is mysterious, not manageable. Miraculous, not marketable. And for sinners in need of his sanctifying work, that’s really good news.
Trevin Wax, 11.12.24, excerpts from: You Can’t Life-Hack Your Way to Holiness
The center of spiritual formation isn’t about what you do or the practices you adopt—it’s about the Spirit forming you into Christ's image. The spiritual life is more about learning to abide in Christ than about following a pattern or liturgy, however helpful your practices may be. The point isn't just to do your duty but to trust the Spirit to transpose your desires and transform you into a different kind of person over time.
Spiritual growth requires attention. And attention is our most precious resource. Prayer is hard, often boring, and sometimes excruciating. Sitting in silence before God while our thoughts flit about can be a painfully revealing process of where our hearts are drawn. Kyle Strobel warns that we might turn to tools and techniques as a way to avoid a genuine encounter with God. Blaise Pascal noted that humanity's problems stem from our inability to sit quietly alone in a room. If that was true in his day, how much more so in our age of endless distractions?
Life hacks prioritize speed and efficiency, and they promise quick results. Yet those who walk with grace over decades often seem unhurried. They don’t obsess over tools or methods. They embrace each moment as a gift, focus on the person before them, and don’t view prayer as a productivity tool but as a way to commune with God. Setbacks and distractions aren’t obstacles to spiritual growth but part of the process of renewal.
I’m grateful for the tools and techniques that aid in spiritual growth. But I’m even more thankful we cannot life-hack our way to holiness. The Spirit is essential, not peripheral. His work is mysterious, not manageable. Miraculous, not marketable. And for sinners in need of his sanctifying work, that’s really good news.
Trevin Wax, 11.12.24, excerpts from: You Can’t Life-Hack Your Way to Holiness
Here are Four Things to Know this Week:
1. The Idol of Worry (Chuck Lawless)
https://churchanswers.com/blog/the-idol-of-worry-or-the-answer-to-worry/
2. Craft Stick Houseboat Represents Joy, Impact of Working Together (Baptist Press)www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/craft-stick-houseboat-represents-joy-impact-of-working-together/
3. 10 Factors That Help Long-term Pastors Stay at Their Church (Chuck Lawless)
https://chucklawless.com/2024/11/10-factors-that-help-long-term-pastors-stay-at-their-church/
4. First-Person: Stand with Cuba (IMB/Baptist Press)
https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/first-person-stand-with-cuba/
To the praise of His glory,
Ray
1. The Idol of Worry (Chuck Lawless)
https://churchanswers.com/blog/the-idol-of-worry-or-the-answer-to-worry/
2. Craft Stick Houseboat Represents Joy, Impact of Working Together (Baptist Press)www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/craft-stick-houseboat-represents-joy-impact-of-working-together/
3. 10 Factors That Help Long-term Pastors Stay at Their Church (Chuck Lawless)
https://chucklawless.com/2024/11/10-factors-that-help-long-term-pastors-stay-at-their-church/
4. First-Person: Stand with Cuba (IMB/Baptist Press)
https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/first-person-stand-with-cuba/
To the praise of His glory,
Ray
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