All of us are aiming our lives at something. We have a vision of the kinds of people we want to become over the course of our lives. But if we’re honest, few of us know how to get there. We either falsely assume we turn into people who look like Jesus by accident, or we rely on big dramatic moments to define us. But change happens through teaching, community, practice, the power of the Holy Spirit over the long haul. In Ephesians 4, Paul reminds the church that everything around us is forming us and shaping us into who we are. The cultural waters we live in shape our desires, habits, and imaginations. Our practice, then, becomes counter-formation. We say “no” to the default patterns of our culture so that we can say “yes” to a better way of life. This type of discipleship looks less like dramatic sprinting and more like walking; slow, ordinary, and repetitive. But over time, our daily practices shape who we become. Slowly we’re formed into the likeness of Jesus over the long haul. To walk faithfully and practically, we use a Rule of Life: a simple way of ordering daily, weekly, and lifestyle rhythms around practices that shape us into who we want to be.
