Uncovering the Ideas in our Hearts
Theologian Dallas Willard described modern Christianity as The Great Omission—though we talk about making disciples, we struggle to actually help form people who are becoming more and more like Jesus over time. Most Christian institutions may see themselves as educational or service groups, but few view themselves as character-forming efforts.
Yet the ongoing formation of our character within the Kingdom is the point. Through that journey, we come to love God, others, ourselves, and creation and culture more, thus fulfilling the Great Commandment (Matt 22:37-40).
If character formation, or spiritual formation, is the primary purpose of the Christian adventure, that leads us to ask: “How is one person formed more like another person?”
This is the central question in our quest to become deep disciples.
We’ve already discovered that character formation requires us to know both the subject and object of the transformation, the theological concept known as “double knowledge.” We certainly desire to experience and know Jesus more, though this formation also necessitates knowing ourselves more.
Modern Christianity rarely addresses the ongoing need for accurate and authentic self-knowledge. It tends to value biblical information or perhaps spiritual gift prowess more than character. We call this tension The Discipleship Dilemma.
The Human Operating System
Also, lasting character formation must engage parts of our hearts that we usually pay little attention to. As we began to touch on last week, the human person functions from many features, operations, and forces of which we’re not conscious. Our hearts are driven by at least two hidden forces: ideas and desires.
So, if we want to become more like Jesus from the inside out, we intentionally become aware of and engage with those parts of our hearts we usually ignore, reject, or fear. If we desire to eventually act, relate, and love more like Jesus without thinking about it, we intentionally dive into our “operating systems,” the deepest parts of our souls.
This mining expedition requires great care, compassion, and gentleness from ourselves and those we ask to join us. Fortunately, our king is far more careful, compassionate, and gentle than we are, so we can trust that, though this expedition involves some pain, it is good.
Though modern Christianity often assumes that this formation primarily (if not solely) occurs through instruction, we are far more complex than that. We are best formed when we join with others in intentionally formative ecosystems that weave together five elements: time, habits, community, intimacy, and instruction.
These five elements are common in almost all contemporary examples of formative communities (the military, sports organizations, recovery programs, marriage, etc.) and are modeled by Jesus and His disciples, though finding all of them intentionally present in modern Christian structures may be difficult (we call this The Formation Gap).
We’re beginning to see why discipleship involves far more than a six-week Bible study.
Heartview and the Eight Indicators
No, that’s not the name of a band.
I made up the term. Obviously, I’m not much of a marketing professional.
Heartview is the ongoing exploration and identification of the hidden ideas and desires in our hearts. We do this by becoming aware of and engaging with our Eight Indicators with God and a trusted friend.
The Eight Indicators are signposts God has woven into each person, pointing back to the hidden ideas that power us. They are our thought patterns, emotions, relationships, health, behaviors, words, and how we steward time and money.
Think of it this way. Proverbs 20:5 says, “The plan (or purposes) in the heart of man is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out.” Heartview is the process of digging the well, drawing out the water, and checking out its qualities.
Heartview and Worldview
I came up with the term “heartview” to align it with and differentiate it from the well-known term “worldview.”
“Worldview” typically refers to the set of beliefs through which we see and operate in the world. So, if someone has a Christian worldview, they evaluate the world through a belief system as revealed in the Bible and creation (what’s known as God’s “second book”). Every thinking person on the planet operates from a worldview, and every worldview is grounded in each person’s theology, whether they believe in a god or not.
As we’ve discussed before, the ideas and desires that govern us generally sit underneath our belief systems. Sometimes our ideas (the unconscious assumptions that power us) align with our intellectual beliefs, but many times they don’t. So, heartview sits underneath our worldview, though they interact with each other.
How does all that work? I have no idea.
Let’s Get Practical
Here’s an example. I have a great friend who loves Jesus. He serves in his church, loves his wife and kids, and adheres to his church’s statement of faith. His worldview is consistent with the Bible and how God has revealed His character in creation.
However, he’s possessed by an irrational fear of running out of money. He has cash in the bank, a good job, and a retirement fund. There’s no imminent danger of him going broke, yet he’s constantly checking his accounts and obsessively tracking the markets. He keeps his wife and kids on an unnecessarily short financial leash, scolding them for spending money on items that aren’t on sale or not immediately functional.
He likes to say he’s “thrifty,” but in fact, he’s a miser. He’s constantly thinking about how to conserve, protect, and sustain what he has. He often wakes up in the middle of the night, worried about something he saw on the news that might impact his financial portfolio.
His wife is afraid to tell him, but the prison he’s built for himself is having a damaging effect on her and the kids.
His worldview is biblical. This portion of his heartview is not.
His worldview states he is a child of God, entitled to perfect peace, secure in his relationship with his Father, and trusting in Jesus for His provision.
His heartview reveals a soul desperately seeking attachment, security, and the fulfillment of his base desires elsewhere.
Several of his Eight Indicators (such as his thought patterns, behaviors, and treatment of money) point below his belief system to more profound ideas that govern his soul and are disconnected from his worldview.
My friend isn’t aware that some dark ideas power him. He isn’t ready to explore the areas of his heart that are harming him and his family. He’s content to rest in his biblical worldview—that’s as far down as he’s ready to go at the moment.
A Few Surface Responses
Modern Christianity tends to respond to this type of disconnection and disintegration in one of two ways: chalking it up to sin and/or quoting isolated Bible verses. Though perhaps helpful, these common responses generally attempt to address a worldview problem. But my friend isn’t suffering from a worldview problem – his suffering is deeper.
Let’s close by taking a quick look at both common responses.
He’s a Sinner
Of course, my friend is a sinner. Such is our human condition. The problem is that modern Christianity often boils reality down to a “sin/don’t sin” equation that fails to take more profound experiences and causes into account, and how Jesus offers us true freedom by meeting us in those deeper realities.
Willard called this tendency the “Gospel of Sin Management,” which asserts the point of the Christian life is to avoid sinning rather than to experience and enjoy a reality-transforming relationship with the Creator God as He dwells with us and works through us to increase His kingdom.
If we fail to explore the underlying reasons why we harm ourselves and others, we will struggle to transform vice into virtue.
In my friend’s case, the reasons why he operates from some dark ideas are related to his origin story. As a young child, he was formed in the idea that his value and identity are bound up in what he possesses. No one told him that – it was the system of ideas in which he was raised. No one instructed him this way. He experienced it. And that’s why it still powerfully controls him today.
The Bible Verse Solution.
It is tempting for those of us around my friend to start quoting isolated Bible passages such as “You can’t serve God and money.” At least in recent years, pulling out verses and assuming a passage is a panacea for any ailment seems to be our expected response.
The Bible isn’t a book of incantations, so that we can speak it and it has a magical effect on anyone who hears it. Telling someone who struggles with anxiety not to be anxious because the Bible says so isn’t helpful. It often only induces guilt.
Jesus exemplified extraordinary personal and individual relational wisdom. We don’t find Him systematizing His ministry, attempting to relate to people in a “one-size-fits-all” approach. He didn’t heal any two people the same way. He interacted differently with various audiences and dispositions. He is wonderfully attuned to each individual and invites them into their hearts and His own while paying marvelous attention to each soul’s true condition.
It’s possible my friend doesn’t need a Bible verse. He likely needs to be in relationships with people living in the light of those verses. If he isn’t yet aware that some dark ideas govern him, his heart may need to experience the presence and peace of people who are gutturally secure in Jesus – whose worldview and heartview are aligned in their identity.
Instruction is one of the necessary elements in our formation, but it is not always the best one with which to lead. Time, habit, community, and intimacy are powerful forces on our hearts, and a healthy, flourishing group of Jesus-seekers intentionally embodies all five.
Duc In Altum!
Brian
