“The space where we find rest and healing for our souls is solitude.”
John Ortberg
The greater work, interior remodeling, is what God does on the inside of our hearts, minds, and spirits, not what we accomplish in the external world. 2 Corinthians 3:18 speaks of God’s desire for each of His children. “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.” God wants each of us to look more like Christ and our transformation starts with the “work” we do in our interior world. Change internally leads to change externally and transformation on the inside results in transformation on the outside.
There are at least four things that rob us from being transformed on the inside. Digital noise from our phones, computers, and televisions are external distractions. Busyness and having a crammed, overpacked calendar consume us with the external world. Having a misplaced identity by finding our worth and value in “doing” rather than “being” traps us in the external. Remaining in our comfort zones instead of choosing faith and taking risks with God, eliminates the opportunities to be transformed. So, how do we remodel our interior world?
Have fewer commitments. The interior work God does in your soul is the greater work and He needs space and time to accomplish it. We need to resist the pull to fill up our schedules. Doing less ministry-wise feels like a luxury and may appear to be self-centered to others when to God He honors the more significant work we are doing in our hearts. God is still working, even when we do not see anything being done. Some of God’s greatest work is done in the secret place when we choose to sit still and have time alone with Him. Sometimes it is more courageous to be still, to choose solitude and the importance of your heart than to say yes to a commitment.
Doing “nothing” is not a waste of time. It's in our times of rest and inactivity that God is active, working inside of us. It may seem like your soul transformation is slow and even tedious, as if you are trying to dig a deep hole with a spoon rather than a shovel. The transformative process of interior remodeling takes time and effort just like it does for a caterpillar to become a butterfly, But I have never heard a butterfly complain and wish they were still a caterpillar!
Choose today to invest time and energy in remodeling your interior world and watch God do a greater work in the transformation of your heart, mind, and spirit.
“For the soul to be well, it needs to be with God.”
John Ortberg
Relevant Reflections:
1. What has prevented you from God’s greater work of transformation?
2. What steps can you take to remodel your interior world?