4: THE ABUNDANT LIFE IS A MATTER OF THE HEART
SOMETHING AMAZING HAPPENS TO you at the moment of salvation; you are placed “in Christ.” This phrase is found throughout Paul’s letters in the New Testament and describes a new reality that includes the forgiveness of sin (Ephesians 1:7-8; Colossians 1:13-14), a life free from condemnation (Romans 8:1), a new identity as a son or daughter of God (Galatians 4:1-8), and a new position as a coheir with Christ (Romans 8:17). Now, everything that Jesus has is yours (Hebrews 1:2), including his glory (John 17:22) and his riches (2 Corinthians 8:9).
But that’s not all. Because you are “in Christ,” the Holy Spirit (or “Spirit of Jesus”; see Acts 16:6-7) lives in you (1 Corinthians 3:16). He secures your salvation for the rest of eternity (Ephesians 2:13-14), strengthens you with God’s power (Ephesians 3:16), and guides you into all truth (John 16:13). The Spirit comforts you in times of pain (2 Corinthians 1:4), intercedes for you in prayer (Romans 8:26), pours God’s love into your heart (Romans 5:5), affirms in your spirit that you are a child of God (Romans 8:16), and provides you with the desire and power to live a godly life (Philippians 2:13; 2 Peter 1:3).
All this and more is true of you and complete in you at the moment of salvation. And if this were not enough, Jesus actually lives in your heart, your inner being (Romans 8:10; 2 Corinthians 13:5; Galatians 2:20; Colossians 1:27). Not only are you “in Christ,” Christ is in you.
Jesus described this reality using the illustration of a vine and a branch:
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. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.
JOHN 15:4-8
The “fruit” which Jesus is referring to includes the attributes of his own character, namely love. As such, from the moment of your salvation, the Holy Spirit begins the Christ-formation process in your heart, helping you take on the character traits of Jesus. This is what Paul was referring to in his letter to the Corinthians: “The Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image” (2 Corinthians 3:18, NLT). Another way to think about this Christlike character is to liken it to the fruit of the Spirit. Paul writes, “The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23, NLT). These Christlike character qualities are what make you more like Jesus and promote a certain quality of life that is similar to the life that Jesus experienced when he was on Earth.
Jesus never worried about what he would eat, or the clothing he would wear, or where he would sleep. He trusted his Father to provide all these things (Matthew 6:25-34). Jesus never pursued wealth, position, or power. In fact, when Satan offered those things to Jesus in the wilderness, he turned them down (Matthew 4:1-11). Even though Jesus experienced all the difficulties, temptations, and human limitations inherent to life on planet Earth—except for sin (Hebrews 4:15)—he lived in a state of shalom, free from all the attachments and grievances associated with this world. And this same quality of life is available for you.
You may be thinking, If Jesus has made his character and quality of life available to me today, why am I not experiencing more of it? The answer might be simpler than you think.
The Biblical Emphasis on Right Thinking
Second only to loving relationships with God and others, right thinking affects Christ-formation and abundant living. We will discuss the role of healthy relational attachment in Christ-formation more fully in a later chapter, but in this book, I’m going to focus on the cognitive options, as those are where we have the most direct control and can make our best start. What we choose to think about matters—a lot!
More passages in the New Testament emphasize the importance of right thinking than you realize. Once you start looking for them, you will see them everywhere. A similar thing happens when you buy a new car. Let’s say you decided to buy a new white Honda Civic. Before buying it, you hardly noticed another white Honda Civic on the road. But after buying it and driving it off the lot, you see the same car everywhere. Why? Because after buying the car, you have a different frame of reference: Essentially, we see what we want to see.
The same is true when you start reading the Bible for evidence of how important right thinking is for your quality of life in Christ. Here are a few examples (emphasis mine):
- “Be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Romans 12:2).
- “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).
- “Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy” (Ephesians 4:21-24, NLT).
- “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Philippians 4:8).
- “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Colossians 3:2, NIV).
These are just a few examples. The fact is, what you choose to think about directly—especially the thoughts you choose to think about God, yourself, and others—will dramatically affect your quality of life in Christ. In order to explain how this works, let me begin with a biblical theology of the soul.
A Biblical Theology of the Soul
Human beings are composed of two primary parts that I will refer to in this book as the material self and the immaterial self. Paul identifies these parts as the “outer self” that is “wasting away” and the “inner self” that is “being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16). The material part of a person is their body, consisting of eleven organ systems that work together as a collective. For example, if you are crossing the street and see that you are about to be hit by an oncoming car, your outer self goes into immediate action by activating a complex cadre of bodily systems—known as a stress response—that helps you get out of the way.
The immaterial part of a person is what Paul refers to as the “inner self” and includes thoughts, emotions, and will (or desire—the place where people make decisions). There are four words in the Bible that refer to the inner self: heart, inner being, mind, and spirit.
Think of your soul as a bucket that contains both your material and immaterial parts. The soul is the totality of what makes up who you are as a human being created in the image and likeness of God.
When God created Adam, the Bible says, “The LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature” (Genesis 2:7). It is important to notice that this creation account includes both the outer self (material) and the inner self (immaterial). The Hebrew word for “creature” is nephesh, which literally means “soul.” To be a living soul requires two aspects: a body (material) and a Spirit (immaterial) (see Figure 4.1).
FIGURE 4.1
God created human beings to live as integrated and whole beings. The various aspects of the material and immaterial self are directly involved in the process of Christ-formation and the abundant life.
Christ-Formation Takes Place in the Heart
The Bible often uses the word heart to describe the immaterial aspect of the self.[1] Solomon writes, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life” (Proverbs 4:23, NLT). Jesus referred to the heart as the operation center for all behavior, including good and evil: “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil” (Matthew 12:34-35). Jesus said the Great Commandment is lived out from the heart (Mark 12:30) and in the Sermon on the Mount, he blesses the pure in heart (Matthew 5:8). Paul maintains that the presence of Christ resides in the heart (Galatians 4:6). According to the Bible, the heart is the operation center for all of life and is in the process of being formed in Christ. Biblical scholar and theology professor Robert Saucy explained,
The heart is the control center of life. It is the place where God works to change us and the place we also must work if growth is to take place. . . .
God works his renewal in and through our heart. . . . The heart is who we are. It is the seat of our thoughts, emotions, and actions. Understanding the heart will help us grasp the process of our transformation.[2]
Because the heart is the “control center” for life, it is necessary to understand how it works, especially in regard to Christ-formation and abundant living.
The word heart used throughout the Bible is composed of three dynamics: thought, emotion, and will. (Think of your will as the place of your desires and the place from which you make decisions and choices. Your will can also be understood as your identity.) These three dynamics of the heart work together—much like the gears in a car transmission—to drive behavior. In other words, human behavior begins in the heart. Let’s take a closer look at each dynamic and how they work together as a collective to influence behavior.
Gear #1: Thinking Is a Dynamic of the Heart
It seems counterintuitive, but thinking is a function of the heart before it is an action carried out in the brain. What is meant by thinking cannot be reduced to the synaptic activity in the brain; to think is a mysterious process that operates outside the basic mechanics of the body. It is a matter first of spirit, of “heart.”
Throughout Scripture, we find this idea that thinking begins in the heart. Moses told the Israelites that the Lord had given them a heart to understand his ways (Deuteronomy 29:4). Throughout the book of Proverbs, the heart is referred to as the place of knowing: “Apply your heart to instruction and your ear to words of knowledge” (Proverbs 23:12); “The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge” (Proverbs 15:14). God promised to give his people a heart to know him (Jeremiah 24:7). The apostle Paul prayed for the Romans: “Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which [God] has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints” (Ephesians 1:18). These verses, and a number of others, affirm that thinking begins in the heart.
Of the three dynamics of the heart—thought, emotion, and will—primacy of place is given by the Bible to thought. Old Testament scholar Hans Walter Wolff wrote: “In by far the greatest number of cases it is intellectual, rational functions that are ascribed to the heart.”[3] Yet, feelings are closely intertwined: Feelings are directly affected by thoughts. Dallas Willard wrote,
Feeling and thought always go together. They are interdependent and are never found apart. There is no feeling without something being before the mind in thought and no thought without some positive or negative feeling toward what is contemplated. . . .
The connection between thought and feeling is so intimate that the “mind” is usually treated as consisting of thought and feeling together.[4]
In the Bible, therefore, emotions are second in emphasis to thoughts, and both elements reside in the heart.
Gear #2: Emotion Is a Dynamic of the Heart
Throughout the Bible, we find numerous verses that indicate the important role emotions play in the heart. For example, Peter writes that love resides in the heart (1 Peter 1:22). Jesus implied that love for God comes from the heart (Mark 12:30). Joy is an emotion that resides in the heart (Proverbs 15:15), as does peace (Colossians 3:15).
Conversely, the Bible affirms that hate resides in the heart (Leviticus 19:17), as well as fear (John 14:27). Feelings of sorrow also reside in the heart. Paul writes, “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart” (Romans 9:2), and David laments, “How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart?” (Psalm 13:2, NIV).
Gear #3: The Will Is a Dynamic of the Heart
The Bible also refers to the heart as the place of the will. For example, God sent the flood to destroy the Earth because “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). When Peter, led by the Holy Spirit, confronted Ananias and Sapphira about their sin of withholding money from the Lord, he recognized that each had “contrived this deed in [their] heart” (Acts 5:4). Paul warned the Corinthians not to judge each other because only the Lord knows the intent of the heart (1 Corinthians 4:5). And the writer to the Hebrews declared that God’s Word “judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12, NIV). Figure 4.2 illustrates the three dynamics of the heart.
FIGURE 4.2
You don’t have to be an engineer to realize that three gears lock together and that a fourth gear is necessary to generate movement. This fourth gear represents the final dynamic of the heart.
Gear #4: Revelation or Lies
The fourth gear can either work for us or against us. Depending on what it represents, it can turn all the other gears in a constructive or destructive way. If this gear represents God’s revelation, it will promote healthy thoughts, emotions, and desires that will work out in our behavior (Figure 4.3). For example, if I think about God’s loving-kindness toward me and his ability to control all things by his power, I will feel safe and secure and not let fear control me.
FIGURE 4.3
However, the opposite is also true (Figure 4.4). If this gear represents lies and choosing to believe that God is not loving nor kind and all-powerful, I will be afraid. This thinking can produce a variety of unpleasant emotions, “including sadness, anger, fear, shame, hopeless despair, and disgust.”[5] These unpleasant emotions affect the will and can play out in behavior in very destructive ways. Dumping a toxic amount of stress into our bodies can result in all kinds of destructive behavior.
FIGURE 4.4
The dissonance between revelation and lies promotes the spiritual/emotional conflicts that hinder Christ-formation and abundant living. Therefore, we need to pay careful attention to the dynamics of the heart, especially by being mindful of our thoughts.
Of the four gears, the only one we can directly control long term is Gear #1: Thoughts. We cannot control our emotions directly, and willpower is unsustainable over the long term, but God has given us free will to choose the thoughts we will think. With my thoughts, I can choose the fourth gear. I can decide if I’m going to think thoughts based on God’s truth or Satan’s lies. Exercising our free will in regard to thoughts reveals how thinking directly affects how we live. Author and theology professor James Bryan Smith writes, “The primary practice of living as a Christian boils down to what we think about, what we dwell on, what values we keep before our minds, what truths (or lies) we have in our consciousness.”[6] Again, the power behind our thoughts is reflected in Scripture.
Paul commands believers to “set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:2). This means that “every thought, aim, value, aspiration, and striving should come under his lordship.”[7] When I set my mind on things above, I think about God’s presence in my life and his grace and love for me as his son. I remember that no matter what is going on in my life, Jesus is with me and has everything under control.
I also make it a practice to dwell on the various aspects of my identity in Christ (see Appendix C). As I do, I feel grateful and loved. Additionally, in Philippians 4:8-9 (TPT), Paul offers a wonderful list of things to think about:
Keep your thoughts continually fixed on all that is authentic and real, honorable and admirable, beautiful and respectful, pure and holy, merciful and kind. And fasten your thoughts on every glorious work of God, praising him always. Follow the example of all that we have imparted to you and the God of peace will be with you in all things.
The Greek word logizomai (translated here as “keep your thoughts continually fixed” and “fasten your thoughts”) essentially means to occupy your mind constantly with something. Here, that something (“authentic and real, honorable and admirable, beautiful and respectful, pure and holy, merciful and kind . . . every glorious work of God”) is nothing less than the things of God. Of course, Paul may not have understood the nuances of neuroscience, but the Holy Spirit sure does, and as he inspired Paul’s writing, he emphasized the importance of constantly being mindful of the things of God. In fact, the more consistently we choose to focus our thoughts on the things of God, the more consistently we will experience a state of peace (Isaiah 26:3).
As a senior pastor, after my closing prayer each Sunday, I offered the benediction to the congregation. I did this for many years to remind them to keep their minds fixed on the true God throughout the week. I want to encourage you to do the same, to keep one eye on eternity every moment of the day: Keep your thoughts fixed on things above. Choose to think about “all that is authentic and real, honorable and admirable, beautiful and respectful, pure and holy, merciful and kind.” And in the midst of whatever challenges you may face, ground yourself in the reality of God’s loving presence. God has given you the power to choose what you think about. Choose wisely, and you will experience his peace.
Restoring My Soul with God
Take ten minutes during the next five days and work through the following questions. (Doing these exercises for ten minutes each day for five days will create a strong neural connection with the truth.)
DAY 1: Read through Appendix C: “My Identity in Christ.” Write down the top ten traits that stand out to you below. What do you notice about God? What would you like to thank God for?
DAY 2: Choose three identity traits (from your list above) that are the most meaningful to you and write out the trait along with the verse in the space below. Limit this exercise to ten minutes.
Why are these traits so meaningful to you?
DAYS 3–5: For the next three days, read through the entire list each day and list ten different things each day that stand out to you.
Restoring My Soul with Others
- How is the fruit of the Spirit described in this chapter? What is the fruit? Do you agree?
- How would you describe the heart and its role in Christ-formation?
- In your own words, how would you describe the three dynamics of the heart? How do you see them working together to drive behavior?
- What is “right thinking,” and why is it such an important aspect in Christ-formation?