the transformation cycle, part 5

Like A Slinky

It is important to note that this cycle is not a one-time development experience.  You will need to continually repeat the process.  It is a never-ending cycle.  

As we live in the world, we have to continually consecrate ourselves to God.  We have to seek out training opportunities where we are likely to encounter God’s Spirit.  We need the Holy Spirit to stimulate growth in us in an ongoing way.  And we need to keep living it out in our daily lives. 

Consecration.  Training.  Growth.  Living.

It’s like a Slinky.  If you were to set a Slinky on a flat surface and pull the top straight up you would find that the circle creates an upward spiral of growth.  You could trace your finger along the metal wire and it would be moving in a circle, but as it does you are also moving up.  The transformation cycle works the same way in our lives.  We need to keep moving around the circle from consecration to training to growth to living to consecration and so on.  The process leads to an upward spiral of growth.  As we repeat the cycle over and over again throughout the course of our lifetime, we find that from year to year we are moving up—being transformed into his likeness.