Going Through the Motions: Nobody gets transformed by checking a box.
Scripture
"And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."— 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NIV)
Reflection
I often evaluate myself by what gets checked off my to-do list.
For a long time, that list has included my "spiritual priorities" — read the chapter, pray, get to church, tithe. I've often treated those to-dos like everything else on my list: get it done, mark it off, move on.
I'm not writing that to run myself down or to criticize you if you do the same. I'd guess many people who've been in church for any length of time have done the same thing, and some of us are doing it right now.
To be clear: there's nothing bad or wrong about making a list to help keep you on track and prioritize your time, focus and resources. Bible apps count your reading streak. Churches count attendance and giving. None of that is wrong to count. The problem crops up when getting it done becomes the priority over the intended value of doing the things.
That is, there's a difference between going through the motions and growing through the experience. Going through the motions is when the discipline gets done and I'm the same man after checking the tasks off the list as I was before. Growing is what happens when the discipline gets done and I've actually met with God in it — I heard something, confessed something, got corrected or got comforted — and I'm different because of it.
The disciplines of Christian living — reading Scripture, prayer, worship, giving, fasting, gathering with other believers — are not intended to be boxes on a to-do list that we check to feel accomplished. Rather, they are designed to enrich our experience with God so that over time we become fully transformed to His image.
And it's about more than our own experience with God. In becoming more like Him we become part of Him to others. That's why giving, showing up, serving and fellowshipping — when they're done with an engaged spirit — make the journey as much about God and people as it is about us. The person I serve with my heart in it gets something of God from me — and vice versa.
Here's what the Apostle Paul is describing in this verse. Anyone who has raised kids knows they end up sounding like you — the same phrases, the same tone of voice, the same look when they're irritated — and I doubt anybody sat them down and instructed them to act those ways. They picked them up by being around you and watching you every day.
Paul says that's how transformation works. We look at the Lord — in His Word, in prayer, in Jesus — and, over time, we start to resemble Him. The verse says we "are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory." That's present tense and ongoing; it's happening now, and it keeps happening as long as we keep engaging in the relationship with Jesus, watching Him. It doesn't happen when we finish the chapter for the sake of finishing the chapter and close the book; it happens when we invite Him in and experience it with Him.
The verse also reminds us of who does the hard work of transformation: "the Lord, who is the Spirit." God does the transforming. Our part is to keep showing up and looking at Him, and the disciplines are where that takes place. Nobody gets transformed by checking a box.
Two things it changes:
1) It changes what I'm after when I open the Bible. If all I want is the box checked, I can read a chapter in four minutes and not remember a word of it afterward. If I'm after God, I slow down, read it again, ask Him what He's saying to me and expect an answer.
2) It changes who the disciplines are for. The transformation "comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit," so I can quit trying to change myself by stacking up disciplines. The Spirit changes me while I keep looking at Jesus. And the people around me are the reason the change matters. My wife, my kids and the people I deal with every day can tell whether I've been with Him or just checked the disciplines off my list.
Application
Pick the one discipline you're most likely to do on autopilot today. For most of us it's the Bible reading or the prayer before a meal. Before you start, say out loud: "Lord, I want to meet with You in this." Then go slower than you want to, ask Him one question about what you read or prayed and give Him a quiet minute to answer. Then, sometime today, give, serve or show up for one person with your whole attention on them.
Prayer
Father, we have turned the things You gave us to know You into chores we finish to feel good about ourselves. Forgive us for reading Your Word without listening for You, for praying without expecting an answer and for serving people with our minds somewhere else. Today, when we open the Bible or bow our heads, meet us there. Do the transforming You promised until we look like Jesus, and let the people around us see You in us. Amen.