With Formation Table (our new channel on Pulpit Rock Mobile), we get to dive into spiritual formation concepts together each month.
Spiritual formation is not about mastering a set of behaviors or disciplines. It isn’t about learning information or theology. It is not about having the right world view. It is about a relationship with Jesus. And it is about helping us return to who we were created to be all along.
Here’s what one of our marriage-focused small groups has been learning from the first 2 episodes of Formation Table…
“Our identity in Christ is the foundation on which our entire spiritual life is built. What He says about us is the most important thing about us.
Our acceptance and worth are rooted in His grace and love. There is nothing we can do to earn it.
These are not only foundational truths to believe and internalize for ourselves individually, but also incredibly important in the context of marriage. Our marriage-focused small group had the chance earlier this month to discuss the Formation Table concepts in light of our relationships with our spouses.
When we view ourselves based on what we do or how we perform in the context of our marriage, our relationship with one another can be negatively impacted, just as allowing our daily sin struggles to define God’s view of us can throw up a barrier God does not create.
It takes purposeful effort, but daily reminding ourselves that our spouse is loved and accepted by God, regardless of their performance, and that our given task in marriage is to reflect this love of Christ to our spouse, can and should be the compass with which the progress of our relationship moves.
If reflecting Jesus to each other is the mutual mission of both people in a marriage, then intimacy and togetherness will naturally blossom.
Our own marital relationship over the past 23 years has faced struggles at times related to our perceptions of the way God sees us. To an extent, each of us can sometimes mistakenly see God looking upon us through the lens of our actions and behaviors instead of how He really does, with clear focus on our inherent worth.
In turn, we have at times applied this conditional view of love to each other. Routine interactions and even misdeeds were viewed from a judicious perspective instead of looking past the deed and seeing a person who was “for” the other, a person whose actions were not the biggest thing about the other.
When we engage God’s manner of love for us with each other, our marriage relationships are strengthened.”
– Jason Garrett
If you’d like to find a group to discuss these Formation Table concepts with, contact Caitlin!
