Olaf Tryggvason was known for playing a key role in the conversion of Scandinavia to Christianity in the 10th and 11th centuries CE. When he was in his twenties, a met a seer who prophesied that Tryggvason would become a renowned king with many successes to his name, but first he was going to be wounded in battle and near death. According to the seer's prophecy, he would survive the injury and subsequently convert to Christianity. Shortly after the prophecy, Tryggvason was injured in battle and near death. Just like the seer's prophecy, he recovered and immediately converted to Christianity. Years later he became king of Norway. Under his rule, he founded the city of Trondheim and built the first Norwegian church. He desired to conquer all the smaller towns and unite all Norway under Christianity. He went about this in a pretty brutal way: those who were conquered were given the option to accept Christianity or die. One Norse priest and warrior, Raud the Strong, was one of these individuals who, when given the option to accept Christianity, refused. As a result, Tryggvason decided to punish him. Using a hot poker, Tryggvason goaded a poisionous snake and entered the snake into Raud's throat, leading to a painful death. Tryggvason believed he was doing his Christian duty, winning souls for the kingdom of God. I'm sure most of us would agree that this wasn't the best method of making other Christians.
Stagnant Water Christianity vs. Living Water Christianity
The Christian walk is like two wanderers in search of places to settle.
Both wanderers know that in order to settle in one place, they must find a source of fresh water. The first wanderer comes across a small pond with a magnificant view. As he looks at the pond water he notices it's odd color and insects swimming around. Weary of traveling, the first wanderer decides to settle at the pond. Though he has a wonderful view, for the rest of his life the pond gave him little nutrition. As other travelers occasionally passed by the pond, the first wanderer tried to convince them to stay with him at the pond. Some stayed, but most traveled on, much to the first wanderer's surprise.
The second wanderer travels on for many more days until he comes to a spring. He notices that the spring is steadily flowing and clear. He also notices a great deal of fertile silt around the spring, left behind by the spring's previous courses. The second wanderer decides to settle next to the stream. For the rest of his life he was well-nourished, having a constant supply of fresh water and land to grow food. As other travelers occasionally passed by the spring, the second wanderer welcomed all. Some decided to stay while most others traveled on.
The parable above describes two very different Christian walks after salvation. I call these walks Stagnant Water Christianity and Living Water Christianity.
Stagnant Water Christianity is the Christian walk dominated by beliefs. After salvation, the Stagnant Water Christian discovers, adopts, maintains, and defends a fixed set of beliefs, usually influenced and encouraged by a church. These beliefs are mostly abiding. The Stagnant Water Christian remains by their pond of beliefs and receive nourishment from this pond day in and day out without much of a glance to the much bigger environment around. The Stagnant Water Christian perceives the Great Commission as a call to bring others to their pond. Some stay, but most don't. The Stagnant Water Christian has a difficult time understanding why all spiritual seekers don't stay by the pond they have found. Because of their inability to connect with others outside of their own pond, the Stagnant Water Christian finds loving they neighbor extremely difficult, especially if their neighbor is not a Christian or deemed a "sinner."
Living Water Christianity is the Christian walk of transformation. After salvation, the Living Water Christian may adopt a certain set of beliefs, but they remain open for new revelation and the potential for these beliefs to change. Like a spring, the Living Water Christian's spiritual life is flowing and dynamic. They are in a continual process of evolution. As they remain open for new revelation, new pathways are continously carved into the self. Like the fertile silt next to the stream, on the former grounds of the old self is an opportunity for growth, enabling the Living Water Christian to produce spiritual fruits such as love, joy, and peace. The more spiritual work done to the soil of the self, the greater the inner transformation and the production of spiritual fruits.
Let's take a closer look at these two Christian walks.
Stagnant Water Christianity: The Limited Spiritual Benefits of Belief
I grew up a pronounced Stagnant Water Christian. I took my religion very seriously. I stood by what I believed and called out that which I stood against. To me, this was virtuous. In life there were two primary objectives, I believed: to become a Christian and to convert others to Christianity.
\To become a Christian, all one had to do was utter a simple prayer:
"Jesus, I ask you to be my Lord and Savior. Please forgive me for my sins."
After becoming a Christian, the new convert's next duty was to make other Christians by leading them in that same prayer. The more Christians you made, the greater the reward in Heaven there was for you. Personal salvation and winning souls dominate the actions of the Stagnant Water Christian.
Identifying oneself with any belief system has more mental, emotional and social supports than spiritual ones. It gives the mind and emotions a sense of peace knowing you're saved from the fires of Hell. It meets a person's social well-being, knowing they are part of a group of likeminded individuals and sharing the same beliefs. It could give the individual the identity they long for. Being a Christian definitely has its benefits. Nonetheless, belief-driven Christianity asks very little from you spiritually. It doesn't require you to "take up your cross daily" and follow Him. It doesn't ask you to be transformed in Christlikeness. It doesn't ask you to love. It simply asks you to believe mentally and to win people to your side. This is the Christianity that's widely encouraged and propagated in the mainstream church.
There are many Christians like me, however, who find Stagnant Water Christianity very unfulfilling. Their spiritual fervor goes beyond belief, doctrine, and tradition. For those Christians, there is an alternative Christian walk that's more spiritually fulfilling.
Living Water Christianity: The Spiritual Flow of Ongoing Transformation
When I was a teenager, I joined my church's youth group. I was super excited about this. For five years I grew spiritually under an amazing youth pastor. I came to experience the never-ending movement of the Holy Spirit. I learned how to deal with my rapidly-changing teenage emotions by building my foundation on Christ. I learned how to fully engage in music as a form of worshipping God, incorporating body, mind, and emotion. I value those progressive years.
When I entered my senior year in high school, I plateaued spiritually. The same old methods of worshipping, the same old ways of reading the Bible, and the same themes of sermons didn't have the appeal it once had on me. I still experienced the same highs during emotional services, and I continued to learn about the Bible and Christian challenges, but my spirit was longing for something more real, more direct and I wasn't receiving it. The waters that once rushed in my childhood Christianity became stagnant.
While I still held strongly to my Christian beliefs and practices, I started to search for ways to enliven my spiritual life again. It wasn't until college when I was introduced to a much larger Christian tradition that I discovered the spiritually satisfying, mystically humbling, transformative Christian walk based on the teachings of Jesus.
So what did Jesus teach us about the transformative walk? Let's take a look at three different passages from the Gospels:
Then he said to them all: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?"
Luke 9:23-25
Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
John 12:24-26
No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.
Mark 2:21-22
Do you see what Jesus is teaching here?
To follow Jesus, one must first die to their old self, completely. This death entails a letting go of all attachments to this self, including all thoughts, beliefs, and emotions. Jesus told his followers that their old wineskins must be thrown out in order to hold the new wine of the Christ he was. Jesus teaches us that the death of the old self is essential for the new self to be born in this same Christ. This is what it means to be "born-again." This is salvation.
For many Christians, transformation stops here. Countless Christians I've encountered along life’s road recount their salvation as their lone spiritual shift, after which they hadn't experienced much change in their thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. The church is responsible for educating and growing these newly-saved souls in Christlikeness. Yet, from my own experiences within the church, post-salvation transformations were infrequent and not emphasized.
Over time our new wineskin adopted at salvation ages, making it extremely challenging to hold the living wine of Christ. Christians can choose to replace this wineskin again or they can choose to maintain the wineskin. For many Christians, there’s an avoidance of going through another wineskin replacement. The first death was most likely uncomfortable. It probably entailed a bit of suffering and pain as the old self fought to remain in control. The first death may have brought up buried past hurts. It might have created intense anxiety, as any change requires an individual to enter the great unknown. Replacing old wine skins with new wine skins is not a smooth and easy process. "Taking up your cross daily" and following Christ doesn't imply a cakewalk; it requires constant sacrifice of self.
There's a reason why Jesus said to take up our crosses daily. The wine of Christ is alive and flowing. The wine of Christ is dynamic. In order to hold the wine of Christ, we must evolve with it. It requires continual ego-replacements in order to maintain this flow. As Jesus said, "Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soul, not the manure pile; it is thrown out," (Luke 14:34-35). Upon your willingness to replace your aged wineskins, you begin to operate from a deeper level of consciousness, enabling you to better detach from the old wineskins. From this state of inner awareness, you start to see a distinction between the wineskins and the wine, between your beliefs and the living Christ. You can see that the wineskins are perishable but the wine itself is eternal. Your concentration moves from focusing on the wineskins to the receiving of the wine itself. You begin to see your wineskin objectively, making it a whole lot easier to to undergo continuous transformation in this living Christ. As you continue to open yourself to receive, you will notice the evidence of Christ through the fruits that have grown within you: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). The appearance of these fruits in your life is clear and real. There is no law, no rules and no religion that can convince you otherwise. Jesus adds more details of the fruit you can bear by having a transformative relationship with Christ:
I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
John 15:1-17
Your old branches that don't bear fruit are trimmed away by the internal Christ. The branches that do bear fruit are pruned and cared for by the internal Christ, enabling the branch to produce even more fruit.
Let's take another verse, this time from the Gospel of Matthew:
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Matthew 7:15-20
If the fruits of your transformation produce good fruit, things like love, joy, and peace, you are not going down a false road. In fact, you'll discover that this road, though rarely taken, leads you to a greater relationship with God and with others, fulfilling the greatest commandments. Ask yourself these questions:
Does love come out of your words and actions?
Is joy evident in the midst of your suffering?
Are you at peace with the continuously changing unknown?
Do you have faith (trust) in God that "all things work together for the good?"
I heard people say that Buddhism isn't really a religion but a way of life. I can confidently say that the same is for Christianity. Jesus didn't present us with a new religion; he presented us with a new way of living. Your relationship with God is meant to transform you into Christlikeness.
Living Water Christianity focuses less on belief and more on transformation. You cannot believe transformation to happen, nor can you force the transformation of others. You can only be willing to let go of the attachments to your old self and embrace the unfolding of your new in Christ. May you be willing to do so.
You can be a Christian and be a renowned Theologian. You can be a Christian and get ordained into the priesthood. You can be a Christian and read your Bible daily, attend weekly church services, raise your hands in worship, fall on bended knee, pray faithfully, and believe and follow all your church's doctrines. Nonetheless, if you are not being transformed in Christ after your supposed "salvation," you must ask yourself if you have a genuine relationship with the living Christ.
Reflection Questions:
1. How would you describe your initial salvation experience? How were you transformed? What new fruits showed up in your life?
2. Which beliefs do you have the most difficulty letting go of? What doctrines are preventing you from going beyond them?
3. What fruits are evident in your life? What comments have people made to you about the evidence of these fruits in your life?
Quotes:
Yes, your transformation will be hard. Yes, you will feel frightened, messed up and knocked down. Yes, you’ll want to stop. Yes, it’s the best work you’ll ever do.
Robin Sharma
Transformation is a journey without a final destination.
