Transformation
What is the goal or the point of the spiritual life?
Heaven?
Happiness?
Clean moral living?
If you asked this question in our church and any other church, you would get various answers, including these. The tough thing is that none of them are altogether wrong. But none of them are altogether right either. Last Sunday, we started our new teaching series through the book of Proverbs. As a book, Proverbs focuses on wisdom, getting it and utilizing it. Wisdom, though, can feel much like the spiritual life, something with multiple right answers. This all leaves us with a muddled mess and confusing expectations.
Here is what Jesus says in Jn. 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
Jesus’ words are both eternal and present. That is, when he offers abundant life, he is offering something that is to be experienced here and now and completely in the life to come. So what is the goal of the spiritual life, and what is the point of wisdom? According to Jesus, to experience the abundant life here and now. That experience means we’re not just waiting for some future moment like heaven. Nor are we just trying to clean up our actions with clean, moral living. It also means that personal happiness is not the gauge of our life’s worth or value. For us to experience the abundant life that Jesus offers, we need to be transformed into something new.
Thinker and theologian Dallas Willard emphasized the importance of spiritual formation over mere behavioral modification. He critiqued the prevalent “sin-management” approach, which focuses on controlling outward actions without addressing the deeper issues of the heart. Willard argued that this method leads to legalism, burnout, or hypocrisy, as it ignores the transformative power of grace and the Holy Spirit. He would write, “The greatest need you and I have—the greatest need of collective humanity—is renovation of our heart. That spiritual place within us from which outlook, choices, and actions come has been formed by a world away from God. Now, it must be transformed.”[1]
The Bible likewise talks about the essential nature of this transformation. Paul urges believers in Romans 12:2 to “be transformed by the renewing of your mind,” and Ezekiel 36:26-27 proclaims God’s promise to give His people a new heart and Spirit. Jesus repeatedly critiqued external religiosity, declaring, “First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean” (Matt. 23:26).
Willard highlighted the role of spiritual disciplines—prayer, study, and community—not as tools for rule-following but as practices that open believers to God’s transformative work. The process of spiritual formation, empowered by the Holy Spirit, produces lasting change. Galatians 5:22-23 describes the natural outflow of this transformation as the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, and more.
Ultimately, spiritual formation is about abiding in Christ (John 15:4-5) and living in the reality of God’s Kingdom. Outward behaviors then align naturally with a transformed inner life, reflecting God’s character and grace to the world. True change is an inside-out process driven by God’s power and presence, not human effort.
As we read and study the Proverbs, we can easily confuse the pursuit of wisdom with the effort of behavioral modification. Those two are not the same. Let us yearn to be formed by God’s Spirit into wise people who look more like Jesus than our old selves.
[1] Willard, Dallas. Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ. Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2002.