From the heart

To the man who does not try to order his thoughts and feelings and judgments after the will of the Father, I have nothing to say; he can have no light to let shine. For to let our light shine is to see that in every, even the smallest thing, our lives and actions correspond to what we know of God... MacDonald from "The Hope of the Gospel"

Most people attempt to live the Christian life ass-backwards. I should know. That's certainly how I did it. A few years ago Larry Crabb wrote a book called "Inside Out". If someone runs across it, it is not a bad read, but all a person really needs to know is in the title.

Christ always works from the inside out. In the quote above the emphasis is on "thoughts and feelings and judgments" -- all internal processes. If I can get my thoughts in line with God's will, I have made a huge move in the right direction. No alteration of behavior is possible without, at a minimum, the decision to try to do right. That's what the Bible means by repentance -- change your mind: metanoia.

Esau despised his birthright, but later wished to inherit the blessing. Speaking of this in Hebrews 12:17, it says, "...he was rejected because he didn't find any opportunity for repentance, though he sought it with tears." In Wuest's expanded translation, he uses the old King James phrase "place of repentance", then puts in brackets, "room to repent". Esau could find no space to turn around. I picture someone crawling through a very tight tunnel. It makes me a little claustrophobic just thinking about it.

But let me change the picture slightly. Now the tunnel is not quite so tight and the only reason the person can't turn around is that he or she is wearing a huge backpack and those long, funky clown shoes. It is obvious to the person that he has taken the wrong turn. To turn around and get to safety, all he has to do is get out from under the backpack and lose the shoes. Simple enough. The shoes are awkward and uncomfortable, and the backpack contains nothing but heavy, worthless junk.

I suspect Esau could have turned around but he was looking for an opening big enough to turn around with his pack. That's what he couldn't find. He wanted to turn around yet retain his bag, though its contents were worthless. He wanted to hang on to his bitterness, resentment and his victim status. He wanted everyone to know how he had been wronged and swindled. He wanted people to tell him what a dirty deal he had gotten.

The reason the road to hell is paved with good intentions rather than self-pity: sooner or later people drop their good intentions but they carry their self-pity all the way.

Conversely, if we are willing to change our thinking around to match God's eventually the externals follow the inner man. We are to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all the external stuff will be added as we go along.

It all starts, really, with a single point of desire. John 7:17 begins, "If anyone wants to do His will, he will understand...". If I just want to do the will of God, understanding and everything else will flow from that point, like a river being born as a tiny spring.

For most of us, that's the very trouble. Many call themselves Christians and fill church buildings regularly who want God to do their will. They do all manner of things they think are "religious" in order to manipulate God, to put Him under obligation to them. If it were not so pathetic it would be laughable. Meanwhile, they remain unchanged in their thinking, feeling and judgment, still trying to crawl through the wrong tunnel with their burdens.

I don't have a "life verse". Speaking strictly for myself I don't get the concept. I suppose if I were forced to pick a single verse from the Bible that sort of epitomizes my view of life, I might pick Romans 12:2 -- "Do not be conformed to this age [world], but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God."

There is a kind of feedback loop to thinking and action. That's why I put more emphasis on the desire to do God's will. The "want to" is the pivot point, the ground for the feedback circuit. Doing right will start you thinking right and thinking right will start you doing right. And the more you do right, the more you think right. And the more you think right, the more right you will do.

It works the same in the negative, but we'll let that alone.