Our love of God directly impacts our love of neighbor. When we receive God’s love for what it is, it becomes possible to love our neighbor as Jesus does. Not for what I can get out of them, but out of genuine generosity. Through this process, the five parts of who I am (heart, mind, body, social relationships, soul) come into proper alignment. More and more, I am living as I am designed to live.

The choices I make out of my heart are for the benefit of others. My mind is filled with thoughts and feelings that focus on good rather than tempt me toward evil. My body is used to worship and glorify God rather than pursue pleasure and power. All of this affects the people I choose to hang out with. In this way my soul is in harmony with God’s intentions.

Specifically, as I am dying to myself, I am becoming the kind of person who does not have a crisis when I don’t get my own way. It does not surprise me or bother me. I am confident that I am perfectly safe in God’s hands and will face life centered within his presence.

As I become an apprentice of Jesus, I am able to live in his kingdom now. Instead of feeling I belong away from God and becoming more and more a person who cannot want him, by dying to self, I am at home with Jesus and living my life as he would lead it if he were me. This is a reality waiting to be discovered.

Renovation of the heart is possible and it is the only option to true living. I will live as I have been designed to live all along, and I will be at home with Jesus. I will be my best, true self.

Now where do I start?

When do you support unhealthy life being lived out by a friend?