A life moving toward God, rather than centered on oneself, becomes a possibility when our heart aligns with God’s desires. When our choices are the choices God would make for us, we begin transformation. All the other parts of our lives are affected. Mind, body, social life, and soul are all involved in the process.

Here is what is different about a renovation of the heart. It is not simply trying harder or getting more focused on the choices we make. It is not a direct approach at all. Remember what we said about “willpower?” It cannot be sustained. Every part of you will scream out, “It can’t be done!”

Life with God is different. There is no part of you that cannot be transformed under the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is our model. We learn from Jesus how to live life as he would live it if he were us in any given situation. This begins with understanding what life is like without God.

Are you moving toward God or away from God? Think on this.

Living Life without God

When I base my decisions and actions on all of my parts, I am in a danger zone. I am so good at being deceptive.

We see this all the time in the world around us. That which is sinful is called “good.” Seeking the truth at all cost is called, “intolerance.” Disagreeing with someone else is labeled, “hate.” Life without God is upside down.

There is hope. I don’t have to do what my thoughts, feelings, body, social pressures, and even my very soul itself, tell me to do. There is the freedom of choice that is my heart. God can take action in my choices.

Left alone without God’s influence, my heart can’t handle the pressure. I will do the things I know are wrong and not do the things I know are right. Life without God is life ruled by the devil or me.

Honestly, I can’t trust myself to have my own best interest at heart. My choices will be ruled by my desires rather than by God’s desires. I will not even acknowledge that I am not doing right. All my parts will find a way to convince me that I am OK. I will hear the “truth.”

“Go with your instincts.”

“You deserve it.”

“Everyone else is doing it.”

“You’re only human.”

Life without God is as dangerous as it can possibly be because it will seem so “natural.” There is another way.

Who are the morally conservative atheist thinkers popular in our society today? Is this a trick question ?

Other than the very first humans, the story of humanity is one of groups of people taking over for other groups of people. Whether by conquest or treaty, no one lives in a place where someone else has not gone before. Family, tribe or nation, the human story is one of conquest and compromise.

No one can literally lay claim to the term, “native.” For example, “Native American” is technically an incorrect term. The people we would give such a distinction would be properly called, “Earlier Americans,” or “Mongolia Americans,” after the likelihood of migration over the frozen Bering Strait.

What all this means is we are not born free. We are beholden to others in order to survive. This begins in family, to be sure, but the continued dependence we have on each other makes the idea of a self-made man or woman, foolish.

We are not free, but dependent. We will either learn to work together, or manipulate and overpower to get what we want. Cooperation or exploitation becomes the human response. Then how can we be free?

How can I be free if I am connected to others in a positive or negative way? Freedom becomes the ability to know what is good for me and good for others, and do it. By human nature, I cannot consistently live my life for the sake of others. By God’s power, I can. The only true freedom is to know what is good and, through the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit, be able to do it.

We are free to live for each other. Free to serve. Free to give privilege a rest. Through Jesus, we celebrate our own independence from being dependent on our human nature.

What does it mean to you to know that you are a slave to what you want, but free to live for the sake of others?

When we turn from God, our bodies become the place where sin is lived out. The path of self-worship goes directly through our looks and how we physically feel. We can see this obsession everywhere.

No one is really interested in how Hollywood stars are thinking lately. Yet, you page through any celebrity magazine and you will see the “best beach bodies in Hollywood,” “the worst fashion mistakes at the Oscars,” and so on.

On occasion, I read magazines like, “In Touch,” or “People” (research purposes only!), and I am always amazed at how much emphasis is on what stars look like. Most are actors and singers, not models. I realize, thin is still in, and yes, Matthew McConaughey does have an excellent six pack, even for a man his age (Much better than my one pack!), but what about their skills and what they have to teach us about their art?

Then there are feelings.With advertisers, I am often invited to try any product with the understanding that I am going to be sexually satisfied as a result. Other than a touchy-feely family or extended family “we are all in this together theme,” most products out there are marketed with some nod to sexuality. God-given creativity and imagination seems to be stuck in the public arena on how many different ways I can say that sex is the real focus.

Body stuff like pornography, alcohol, and drug abuse are all pure body ruin. We are bombarded with the message of feel good, or don’t feel at all. Until they started making good spam blocker on the internet, the two “V’s”, Viagra and Vicodin, seemed to be the solution to all my problems. Giving in to the search for pleasure is a direct result of heart and mind ruin.

Social ruin quickly follows then,  because I don’t need you unless it means I can use you for pleasure. Even anger is not exempt from body ruin. Anger is lived out physically, as well. This is another warped way of the body. Getting a “rush” over rage. So if heart, mind, body and social relations are all on the path to ruin, what happens to me?

When is the last time you looked in a full-length mirror? What did you see?

“Love your neighbor as yourself.”

This is the social relationship aspect of who we are. God created us as social beings. I would argue this is one of the key parts of being created in the image of God. Being able to relate to one another and God. God himself relates to himself as a social being in the Trinity. That should freak you out, it’s so big a concept!

God living with God’s self in the existence of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and choosing to invite us into the love and joy of this, as Dallas calls it, “Trinitarian reality.”

How is that for big words? In other words, Father, Son and Holy Spirit are having such a good time living for the sake of each other that God decides, “Let’s create people to share in the joy!”

We are born to party!!

Well, something like that. You live out who you are in the community of whose you are. A vital part of what makes you, “you,” is me. What makes me, “me,” is you.

When was the loneliest time in your life? What happened?

Feelings follow after the thinking that our minds are doing. The path to emotional ruin is taken easily once our minds are convinced that we are in charge. If only everyone would think like us. If it is our desires that matter the most, then feelings bring plenty of destruction.

There are going to be tremendous amounts of conflict that go along with emotional ruin. Like the effect of the ring in the Lord of the Rings,

“Whatever we wants, precious, that’s whats we try to get.”

The emotional pull of possessing what we want makes it impossible to care about the needs of anyone else. The obsession takes over.

Take dating, for instance. As long as I am having my needs met by you, I am in “love” with you. How quickly that changes when you don’t do what I want or I am not getting the attention I feel I deserve. Conflict quickly moves in and with me at the center of the universe, obviously you must be wrong. Either you change your act immediately or I am out of here. I’ll simply fall in “love” with someone else until my needs aren’t being met again.

Follow your desires? On the path to self-ruin that is the last thing you should possibly do.

What is there in your life that has more to do with following your desires than doing the right thing?

The second part of you and me to examine is our “mind.”

‘Love the Lord your God with all of your mind…’

The mind is separated from the heart, but it works with it. The mind is constantly providing direction for the choices we make. The mind is further divided into two parts. “Thoughts” and “feelings.”

Thinking is where we process the world around us. We can consider many things in relationship with other things. Thinking is where we have the capacity to use imagination. It is where we form opinions and perceptions which we may or may not act upon. In a healthy mind, we use a set of standards called, “logic,” which help us measure our thoughts.

Our thinking is influenced by our feeling. It is our emotional response to what is being processed. Something may be logical, but we may feel that it is wrong. Two people can think in an identical way about something, but have a very different response because of how they feel. We are often pulled away from right thinking because we allow how we feel to take priority. This is where we can get into big trouble.

“Spock” is a good example of thinking and feeling. Check out the Star Trek (2009) movie to see this in a fresh, new way!

We use the word “heart” a lot. Even with young children. We often teach little ones to love Jesus with all their heart. We ask them, “Where is Jesus?” They reply, “Jesus is in my heart,” as they point to their tummies. I don’t teach Jesus this way with small children. I teach them Jesus is all around them covering them everywhere. He’s in your heart and all around you.

Then what about the heart? The biblical understanding of the word, when it is not referring to the actual physical organ in your body, has to do with your choices.

“Will,” “spirit” and “heart” are basically interchangeable words in the Bible. Your “heart” has to do with the choices you make. Your “will” and your “spirit” have to do with choices. You can substitute “choices” when you see these words and it will usually be an accurate understanding.

Choice assumes action. To choose is to exercise your own freedom. When you “love the Lord God with all your heart,” you seek the good of God’s plan through your choices. You actively partner with God to bring about what he wants brought about in the life you are leading together. To put your heart into it is to live as if it were so.

What is a choice that you are putting off?

Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: `Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: `Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”

(Mark 12:29-31 NLT)

God designs us. We are all wired a certain way. What we have in common you could call, “the essence of our humanity.” Or, “the dimensions of our existence.” What makes a person a person?

Jesus gives us an understanding of what our human nature is made of in his answer to a lawyer’s question, “What is the most important commandment?”

‘Love God and neighbor with everything you are.’

What are we?

Jesus breaks it down to five parts:

Heart

Soul

Mind

Strength (body)

Neighbor (social dimension)

If I can understand what makes me human, then I can begin to see how transformation affects all parts of my life. Let’s look at each of these dimensions and their relationship to spiritual formation.

Think on the word, “dimension.” Expand your thinking on this.