17 Jan 2012
 There are no magic formulas for the Christian life or its spiritual disciplines. Take prayer for instance, the scriptural formula for prayer is quite simple. We are to simply “pray in the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:18). In other words, we are to pray as God burdens us to pray, we are to pray as the still, small voice of the Spirit instructs us to pray, and we are to pray with whatever spirit of prayer and supplication we are graciously granted.
Sometimes the spirit of prayer will rush in like a flood. At other times, it will be more like a trickle. And, unfortunately, there are those times when we will feel like we’re kneeling in a dry riverbed. Still, prayer is like everything else in the Christian life, it will prove ineffectual and fruitless without the Spirit.
Though once most fond of formulas, I’ve grown in my Christian life to be most wary of them. They tend to rob the Christian life of heart and turn its disciplines into mere habits, which inevitably end up in ruts void of spontaneity and the life-giving breath of the Spirit. I’ve learned over time the invaluable lesson that the Christian symphony cannot be played by rote, but only by ear.
Now, I’m not saying that formulas cannot serve as spiritual sustenance to the bottle-fed babe in Christ. They can prove helpful during the fledgling days of the life of faith, helping new converts to establish their spiritual disciplines. Yet, just as natural newborns should not remain on formula past the first fews months of their natural lives, neither should spiritual newborns remain on formulas past the first few months of their spiritual lives. To do so is to stunt one’s spiritual growth, with the resulting consequences of one becoming spiritually malnourished, weak and sickly.
In Hebrews 5:12-6:3, the author of Hebrews speaks of this formulas phenomenon among Christians. According to him, many of the spiritually elderly are still formula babies, despite the fact that they should have matured past the need for formulas a long time ago. Rather than being spiritually mature and ministering to the spiritually immature, they still require being spiritually bottle-fed themselves. They can’t digest sound doctrine, but are still in need of spiritual Pabulum.
Does this not explain why the contemporary church is always looking for formulas? We look for a formula to enable us to live a successful Christian life. We look for a formula to follow in everything from our home lives to church growth. And all the while we are continuously confronted with incontrovertible evidence that proves beyond doubt the futility of formulas. For instance, the Crystal Cathedral, the house that “possibility thinking” built, goes bankrupt and Bruce Wilkinson, the author of The Prayer of Jabez, resigns from his ministry in Africa over his prayer not being answered.
Today’s obsession with formulas is an indictment against the contemporary church. It serves as proof positive of our spiritual shallowness and immaturity. We don’t want deep doctrinal studies, long hours in our prayer closets wrestling with God, or heavy crosses to bear in our self-sacrificial service of Christ. We want quick fixes and magic formulas, despite the fact that they are illusionary and nonexistent.
Every great composer or virtuoso must begin by learning the musical scale. Likewise, all great authors and poets must begin by learning the alphabet. Afterward, the great composers, virtuosos, writers and poets go on to use the basics as wings with which to soar, not as a cage within which to confine themselves for the rest of their lives. There are too many caged Christians in today’s church! Are you one of them, a spiritual captive in a formula-lined caged?
Don Walton
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