Preventing Empty Souls

Gordon MacDonald, writing in Leadership Journal Winter 2016 in an article entitled The Day I Hit a Wall coined the word 'empty souls' as when busy Christians run on empty because of their busyness. I like what he writes about preventing this:

Over time I have comprised a bulleted list of the insights that resulted from that December day so many years ago. I include them not because I have mastered them, but because they represent the direction in which I like to walk each day.

• My allocation of time and energy must begin by inserting Sabbath pauses into my calendar before work begins … not after work ends. Because ministry work never ends. 

• I have come to appreciate the importance of searching events and personal encounters for the embedded messages of wisdom and discernment that God offers. 

• I have tried to be sensitive to the various ways God makes his presence felt: in creation's beauty and art, in suffering, in study, in various forms of private and corporate worship, in the wonderful stories of Jesus. 

• I have gathered a small cadre of personal friends who know my heart (and I, theirs) and who are not reluctant to either encourage me or rebuke me when necessary. 

• I have pursued the discipline of intercessory prayer for my family and friends, for the church in the world, for global leaders, for those who suffer. 

• I have treasured the insights that come from the biographies of great men and women of God who have lived through the centuries 

• I have come to love the Bible, to draw from its pages the thoughts and purposes of God. 

• I have understood the importance of readily repenting when I am wrong and quickly forgiving when others have hurt me. 

• I have made it a priority to move toward those who are weak and vulnerable with words of hope … as Jesus did. 

• I have sought to discipline my lifestyle: to keep free of clutter, to downsize, to keep simple, to accept the obscurity that comes with the aging life. 

• I have heard the call of God in my older years to be a spiritual father to any younger people who want to welcome me into their experience. 

• I have determined to daily return to the cross and reaffirm my conversion and call to follow Jesus.

  We need to avoid 'empty soul' syndrome and Gordon gives very good advice.  


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Spiritual Formation is...(Alex Tang)

Christian spiritual formation is the intentional and ongoing process of inner transformation to become like Jesus Christ, become a people of God, and be God’s agents for his redemptive purposes.

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Spiritual Formation is...(James Wilhoit)

Christian spiritual formation is growing in Christ through community (James Wilhoit)

Christian spiritual formation is living in a Christian faith community that receives, remembers, responds and relates. This community forms the crucible where the formative elements, the lived elements, and the ethical elements of the faith are being worked out in the daily interactions between Christian disciples, their culture and the people they interact with.

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Spiritual Formation is...(Dallas Willard)

Christian spiritual formation is renovation of the heart (Dallas Willard)

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