Starts and stops! Or perhaps in the spirit of college football bowl season and professional football playoffs we should say false starts. Our intentions are good but somehow we get derailed.
Whether acknowledged publically or not, most people approach a new year by thinking back over the past twelve months, making some evaluations, and deciding on new resolutions. One of the most common resolutions involves getting back in shape and exercising more or changing diet and eating habits. Whatever the resolution may be, challenges and distractions always seem to come. It goes without saying that commitment and perseverance is key to seeing actual change take place.
Maybe your resolutions involve a personal relationship with Christ and spiritual formation. The apostle Paul writes that we are to be transformed, but for many Christians, figuring out how to approach spiritual transformation can be elusive.
In
The Transforming Power of the Gospel, Jerry Bridges lays out how this process can happen by guiding you through a thorough examination of:
- what the biblical meaning of grace is and how it applies to your life
- how Jesus’ work in His life and death applies to the believer in justification and adoption
- why basic spiritual disciplines are necessary for spiritual growth
- what role the Holy Spirit plays in both definitive and progressive sanctification
God’s desire is that all believers to be conformed to the image of His Son (see Romans 8:29). The process toward that goal is most commonly referred to as spiritual transformation (see 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24; 2 Peter 3:18; 2 Corinthians 3:18). This process of transformation into the image of Christ begins at our new birth (see John 3:3-5) and continues until we die and enter into the presence of the Lord. At that time, according to Hebrews 12:23, our spirits will be made perfect, and the transformation process will be completed. Not only has God predestined us to be transformed into the image of His Son, He also has commanded us to be transformed. Through the apostle Paul, God said, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.”
In
The Transforming Power of the Gospel, Bridges teaches us how to think rightly about holiness and spiritual formation. He
starts and
finishes with the Gospel so that through it we learn of both our need for holiness and the way by which we are conformed to the image of Christ.
I hope in 2012 you start well and finish strong.
See you downstream . . .