After Post 3, you probably know why I titled my book, “The Courage to Be Weak.” After all, we push down parts of our hearts for a reason—direct encounter with them is painful, scary, disturbing, or disorienting. It takes a lot of boldness to examine these weak regions. I know…. I faced many challenges in my life that called for bravery, but I never needed more courage than when I began to look deep beneath the surface of my heart.
As Christians, we love God, and we love His Word, right? Naturally, then, we want to understand what the Bible says about our experiences and decision-making. Engagement with this blog is no different. So, what is God’s view of our topic? In particular, what does He have to say about our suppressed or “hidden” hearts?
I don’t know how to describe Ephesians 4:22-24. Expansive and dense? Sweeping? Check it out:
“…to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” (ESV)
A theologian could fill a lot of books trying to unpack these three verses. They seem to hold our life-long sanctification process. So, it might be best—at first—to approach them from a broad perspective: old and new.
The Apostle Paul uses forceful words to draw a dramatic distinction between the parts of ourselves that are old and the parts that are new. We walk around with both. The new parts are those that are “created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” The old parts belong to our “former manner of life”—the way we lived before we submitted to the lordship of Jesus. Paul commands us to “put off” this old self or old man.
How do we respond to Paul’s “call to action?” Well, some of our behaviors simply must stop. And certain parts of our character must be transformed. To the former, most of us say, “Got it.” To the latter, a large majority of us say, “What does character transformation look like?” After all, it’s relatively easy for us to grasp what it looks like to rid ourselves of sinful behavior. We cut off the action. But we cannot cut off regions of our character in the same manner. I learned from one of my seminary professors, Dr. John Coe, that these places inside are parts of our “persons.” They may be areas of malformed character, but they hold vital human capacities. These capacities must be re-formed into righteous and holy character. For example, if I struggle with anger, I don’t deny that the human capacity for anger is good. We are made in God’s image, and God sometimes gets angry. However, my capacity for anger has been abnormally formed into unhealthy character. I have become an angry man. As a Christian, I want my capacity for anger to be re-formed into righteous anger.
A helpful description of putting off our old self, then, is this: First, stop doing old things. Second, as Coe once put it, become the kind of man who naturally does the new things from the heart. This call to transformation demands change. The repressed places of our hearts are regions of weakness, brokenness—they are capacities that were malformed into areas of troubled character that now must be redeveloped. This awareness brings us to the central theme of our series, stated in four conclusions:
- We cannot transform ourselves. Most of us have tried! And, we have failed. We can do nothing apart from Jesus (John 15:5).
- In repressed areas of our hearts, we are alone. We have not invited Jesus to be with us in these places.
- We are transformed relationally. I don’t think we can hold a high-enough view of John 15:5. If we cannot do anything without Jesus, then only with Jesus can we grow.
- We must invite Jesus into the hidden places of our hearts that need reformation.
Our Sunday School teachers were right. Those of us who grew up in the church probably remember being told that our hearts are like houses with many rooms. We want Jesus with us in some of these rooms, or at least we are okay with His presence. But in other rooms, we keep the doors shut. We don’t want the Lord with us in these rooms, and we typically don’t want to go into them ourselves. Large parts of us are left to languish and weigh us down.
We will talk more about these hidden rooms and how we experience them, but for now I want to acknowledge that we can easily feel deflated by this week’s post. No doubt, I sank when I first learned that my heart was like an iceberg and that I hadn’t looked below the waterline at the huge mass hidden by the ocean. But I encourage you—choose hope! There is a reason why we experience ourselves as guys and not men, and we are unlocking tremendous potential for growth. Let’s press on in hope and shift the trajectory of our lives.
Prayer Project
Please take some time to sit in a quiet place where you won’t be distracted for at least 30 minutes. Then, ask God and ask yourself the questions below. If you can, write down your answers in a notebook that you might keep for this journey we’re taking together. No right answers here—just be as honest as you can.
- God, do I acknowledge that there are “rooms in my house” that feel dark and dank? Sad? Scary? Embarrassing? I don’t want to go into them right now, Lord; I just want to accept that they are there.
- How do I relate to these parts of myself? Have I tried to deal with them? If I have, what did “dealing with them” look like? What did I do?
- God, do I feel alone in these places inside?
- How do I feel about inviting you into some of these rooms, Lord?
- Thank you, God, for leading me along this path of hope. If you are showing me some things that You intend to change, then You must want more robust life for me.