Our heart is where our choices lie. We make good choices. We make disastrous choices. Why the difference? It really has to do with who we are and the paths we choose.

There are basically two paths. The first path is the one we start out on and most of us stay on. This is the “self-worship” path. Dallas calls this, “The path to radical ruin.”

Self-worship means we put ourselves and our desires on the throne of our lives. We are the center of the universe.

It is like when we are one year old and we can’t distinguish between ourselves and the world around us. In some ways, for most of us, this never changes. We grow older but we don’t grow up. Until Jesus is on the throne of our lives, radical ruin is the outcome waiting for us in any possible given situation. John Maxwell says it this way,

“Unless God is in control of your life; your life is out of control.”

Our human nature is to focus on ourselves and what we want. The mantra of a “normal” person is, “I want what I want when I want it.” Are there any alternatives? One.

The second path is that of “self-denial.” This doesn’t mean we deny who we are and the condition we are in, rather it means we choose not to give in to our normal desires, which are to seek pleasure and be in control. Self-denial or the “path to radical goodness,” is where we live for the sake of others.

This doesn’t demean us. This doesn’t turn us into doormats to be stepped on or taken advantage of. This enhances who we are and puts us on the path that God designs us for all along. When Jesus is on the throne of our lives, we are finally our best, true selves. How does this happen?

It has to do with the five parts of who we are again: Heart, mind, body, social life, and soul. We will look at the path to radical ruin and the path to radical goodness. We are invited to choose. This cannot be done for us, but under the influence of God’s grace, it is possible to choose goodness.

Think of times when you denied something that you wanted and it actually worked out better?

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?