We’ve adopted a definition of discipleship as “the process by which our ideas of darkness are progressively transformed into ideas of light.” But we’ve also noted that we aren’t usually conscious of many of the ideas in our hearts!ย Often, it takes a crisis for us to dig beneath the surface and uncover what’s going on. ย Can we discern our hearts at other times? We answer that question and examine practical “signs” in our lives that point back to our hidden ideas, desires, and assumptions. ย For more information, see the Resources tab on the Soil and Roots website.ย
TRANSCRIPT
Episode 9: I Saw the Sign โ The Eight Heartview Indicators
Welcome to the Soil and Roots podcast: journeying together into deep discipleship. Iโm Brian Fisher.
For those of you who are fans of practical application, your day has arrived! Weโve taken time to lay the foundations of Soil and Roots, and today weโll outline practical next steps in our deep discipleship.
Season 1 So Far
Hereโs what weโve explored so far:
1. The problem. Modern Christianity talks a lot about making disciples but struggles to actually do it. A disciple is someone who is journeying to become more like Jesus, but letโs face it, that doesnโt seem to be the definition of discipleship in our current era. Dallas Willard referred to it as the โGreat Omission.โ
Weโve also explored the Great Omission from another angle: itโs the absence of the later stages of our discipleship journey based on an outline from the book, The Critical Journey.
The modern church is pretty good about guiding us through the first three stages: Meeting God, Learning about Him, and a Productive Life. Once we hit a Wall of some sort, however, most Christian institutions arenโt sure what to do. So, these last three stages, the Inward Journey, the Outward Journey, and the Life of Love, are typically missing from our modern Christian experience.
The point is, weโre in a discipleship crisis, something most Christian leaders and thinkers agree on. The impact of this crisis can be seen at all levels of human experience and in all four of our relationships: with God, others, ourselves, and creation and culture. We wonโt be looking at the impact of the Great Omission on culture for a while. But as individuals, we often feel the impact. We have this nagging sense of disconnection from God, others, and ourselves. In our quiet moments or perhaps in the middle of a crisis, we wonder if thereโs supposed to be more to the Christian life than what weโre living.
2. The Solution. At Soil and Roots, weโre exploring the solution to this crisis, and we call it โdeep discipleship.โ Deep discipleship isnโt so much about our external belief statements and various acts of service. Itโs about an inward journey into the human heart, below our belief statements, below our polite behaviors and attitudes at church and into our soils. Into the realm of the hidden and unconscious ideas that form us, our families, and even our culture.
At the bedrock of who we are, our hearts (our spirits), we find these ideas and the desires with which theyโre fused. The exploration into our hearts and the hearts of those around us at this level is the deep end of discipleship; itโs whatโs been omitted from our Christian experience, itโs venturing into stages 4, 5, and 6 of the critical journey.
3. It takes a while to get our minds and arms around these strange, hidden assumptions we call ideas, so this season weโve introduced a few idea categories and some specific examples. Weโll cover a few more before we end the season.
In the last episode, we dug into the anatomy of these powerful ideas. We talked about their origin, location, formation, and how we usually become aware of them.
Weโre discovering that many of our ideas are shaped by the ways we normally associate with modern Christianity: the Bible, sermons, and fellowship with others. Though these ideas are also formed through other ways we donโt pay as much attention to in our era: our family of origin, the neighborhoods and communities in which we were raised, primary relationships and experiences we had when we were younger. In other words, our story. Our story, our history, has an enormous impact on our discipleship journey. Sometimes we need to go backward to go forward.
Unfortunately, most of us donโt look into our hearts until our story gets interrupted, when we hit the wall, some sort of crisis in life: a job loss, death in the family, illness, accident, betrayal, or even a theological crisis. Or we have deep wounds in our hearts that have been there for years, and the metaphorical dam finally bursts for some reason. When we hit the wall, we have a choice: continue adding more coping strategies or surrender. Generally speaking, itโs only when we surrender and step into the grief, pain, anxiety, loss, and broken desires that we begin to unravel the true ideas in our hearts.
The Eight Indicators
As we head into the last group of episodes in Season 1, itโs now important for us to explore a pivotal question. If these ideas have so much power, if theyโre generally hidden and unconscious, if many of us arenโt really aware of them even in normal Christian circles, and if theyโre central to our journey to become more like Jesus, can we even figure out what they are?
Doesnโt Jeremiah tell us our hearts are desperately sick and wicked? It is even possible to probe the bedrock of our soils in order to determine what sort of ideas are truly governing us?
The great news is, yes, it is possible to explore and uncover ideas in our soils. In fact, this is what Jesus invites us to do. And Heโs already wired each of us with external markers that give us hints and clues about whatโs going on internally.
So, consider this episode a little preview of Season 2. Weโre introducing this next step here to give us something to look forward to, something to be hopeful for as we continue excavating the Great Omission, the world of ideas, and our journey into deep discipleship.
Itโs time for a few new terms. The first one is the Eight Indicators. These are the signposts that every human being has, that every person exhibits, pointing back to the ideas and the experienced realities in our hearts. And these are all very practical, everyday things that everyone has. By paying attention to and exploring these eight indicators, we can get a pretty good sense of whatโs going on in our hearts, IF weโre courageous enough to explore them with God and a trusted friend.
So here are our Eight Indicators: thoughts, emotions, health, actions, relationships, words, time, and money. When we explore these indicators, we can begin to frame a picture of the ideas in our hearts. Once we have a clearer view of the ideas in our hearts, we can determine whether they bend towards darkness or towards the Kingdom of God. Exploring and understanding these Indicators is really vital as we journey into deep discipleship. Thatโs why weโll spend all of Season 2 walking through each of them.
So, what should we call this exploration of our Eight Indicators with God and a trusted friend to help us uncover the hidden ideas in our hearts?
Oh Boy, Another New Term.
Someone recently asked me if this podcast is about worldview. If you arenโt familiar with the term โworldview,โ it basically means a set of beliefs that helps us understand the world.
Worldview has become a big deal in the last few decades, and itโs a wonderful field of study. Part of my recent education has been in Christian worldview studies with the Colson Center in Washington, D.C., through their Fellows program. I highly recommend it.
Worldview works to answer key questions such as โWhere did we come from?โ โWhat is wrong with the world?โ โHow do we fix it?โ โWhat is a human being?โ and โWhat is truth?โ
Youโll notice similarities between these key worldview questions and the core ideas weโve introduced here.
Though if youโre listening carefully, youโve noticed that I rarely use the word โbeliefโ. We talk about ideas, deep discipleship, and desires. But I intentionally use the word โbeliefโ selectively โ not because of what the word actually means, but because of what our culture typically assumes it means.
When we say that worldview refers to a โset of beliefs,โ what many people mean is a โset of mental assumptions or conclusions.โ The word โbeliefโ tends be used to describe something our minds agree with. Iโm not saying that our mental beliefs never permeate our hearts. Our minds are essential to heart formation, and they work together. We all have sincerely held beliefs, and often our hearts do embrace what our minds believe. But not all the time.
Many of us experience disconnection between the ideas our hearts embrace and what our minds believe. In this sense, our minds and hearts are not integrated. They are not on the same page. We are dis-integrated.
In fairness, there has only ever been one man who ever walked the planet who is completely integrated, where His mind, His heart, His body, and His soul are in complete unity all the time, and completely in sync with the Ideas of the Kingdom of God. And we arenโt Him.
But another way to think of a deep disciple is someone who is becoming increasingly integrated โ someone whose ideas of light in their hearts align with their intellectual beliefs.
We see evidence of dis-integration all the time in ourselves and in others. The politician who rails against government spending during his campaign but increases the budget when he gets into office. We might say heโs a liar, but sometimes the politician mentally believes in his policies until his heart desires something else, perhaps money or power.
Jessica and I recently learned that a man is leaving his wife because he no longer loves her. Thatโs not what he said on his wedding day. His head believed an idea of love when he got married, but his heartโs desires arenโt in step with what his mind believes. His heart is embracing ideas of love from the kingdom of darkness, though he believed with his head and confessed with his mouth something very different on his wedding day.
Thereโs nothing wrong with the word โbelief,โ though I think we can define it better in todayโs rationalistic culture. Iโm just cautious because we often say we believe something and we think we do, but our hearts are rooted in different ideas. We typically chalk this dis-integration up to sin, but youโve probably guessed I find that to be a surface answer that stops short of deep discipleship.
Of course, we sin. The question is why. Why the disconnect between our stated beliefs and the ideas in our hearts?
So, is Soil and Roots a worldview podcast? I donโt think so. There is some overlap, but worldview tends to be concerned with evaluating the various belief systems in church and culture. Worldview doesnโt normally deal with the individual heart, or story, or deeply embedded ideas.
Letโs use a different word to describe how we discern the ideas in our soil. It isnโt worldview โ itโs Heartview.
Heartview: Exploring our Eight Indicators as signposts to point us back to the deeply embedded ideas and desires in our hearts. Heartview is a crucial habit of someone venturing into deep discipleship.
Itโs probably obvious, but Iโm not really a marketing and branding person. Heartview isnโt even a real word. But itโs simple. And it works as a compliment of sorts to worldview. Worldview is about our set of beliefs, and Heartview is concerned with the ideas and desires that often sit underneath our beliefs.
Heartview is not something we should do on our own. Itโs best to explore our Eight Indicators with God and a trusted friend or two. Weโll struggle to get an accurate picture of our desires and ideas on our own. We arenโt really designed to do that.
Our hearts are complicated, and we tend to be really, really good liars, especially to ourselves. Many of us employ coping mechanisms that obscure our hearts, and many of those mechanisms have been in place since we were kids. Our hearts tend to stack layer after layer of assumptions, patterns, and habits that make digging into our soil difficult. So, we need a trusted spouse, mentor, friend, or some other wise, discerning person to come alongside us as we wrestle with our hearts, in cooperation with the Holy Spirit.
Trust is the pivotal word when it comes to Heartview. Adam Young, the host of a podcast called โThe Place We Find Ourselvesโ, shares that there are three types of people in the world: garden-variety sinners, wicked people, and evil people.
The ongoing process of discerning our hearts should be done only with people who genuinely love us and genuinely seek our good. Wicked and evil people donโt do that. And there are plenty of wicked and evil people sitting in our churches and Christian communities. So, exercise caution here.
Weโll unpack these in Season 2, but hereโs a brief introduction to the Eight Indicators to help us get familiar with them.
- Thoughts. Human beings are amazing, and one of the things that makes us amazing is the fact that we can think about what we think about, what scientists and sociologists call โmetacognition.โ We have the ability not only to think but to assess what we think.
In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus talks about the relationship between the heart and the rest of us, noting that thoughts and the heart are connected.
โAnd He was saying, โThat which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, aenvy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.โ[1]
There is a fairly famous verse in Proverbs 23 that, although not always used in context, gives us some more insight.
โDo not eat the bread of a selfish man, or desire his delicacies; for as he thinks within himself, so he is. He says to you, โEat and drink!โ But his heart is not with you.โ[2]
Our thoughts and our hearts are tied together. Because God has given us the ability to think about what we think about, we can dig into our hearts by studying our thought patterns. And we can evaluate whether our thought patterns align with ideas of darkness or light.
- Emotions. It seems we tend to take one of two perspectives on emotions: feelings are bad and we need to control and suppress them, or feelings are everything and we owe it to ourselves to follow and fulfill every emotion.
But Chris Dodd wrote, โFeelingsโฆhelp us name what we are experiencing in our hearts. Feelings bring us to confession of how wonderfully frightening it is to live the mystery of being with God and others.โ[3] As Indicators, emotions are extremely important. The heart often reveals its true desires through our emotions, perhaps through anger, fear, anxiety, joy, compassion, and gladness.
- Health. There is a passage in Proverbs that says:
โDo not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your body and refreshment to your bones.โ [4]
Letโs recall an idea of anthropology we explored. We are integrated people. Our hearts, minds, and bodies are woven together in the context of our souls. So, it stands to reason that our health may point us back to our hearts. Does that mean that every injury or illness is a spiritual sign? No. However, that doesnโt mean our bodies are divorced from the rest of us. Constant fatigue, some chronic illnesses, depression, and loss of energy may be signs of a distressed heart. On the flipside, vibrancy, energy, and overall vitality may be signs of a well-rested soul.
- Actions. Our behaviors tie back to our desires and the ideas in our hearts. How we respond in peaceful situations and in crisis. How we deal with the everyday mundane and how we deal with the extraordinary. Do we behave in these situations the way Jesus behaved? If not, why not?
- Relationships. Proverbs 13:20 says,
โ He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.[5]
If youโre like me, you have at least once or twice been the companion of fools and have probably suffered for it. Back to Adam Young: his work on the three types of people (garden-variety sinners, wicked people, and evil people) is helpful here.
A wicked person is someone who is unwilling to repent. They may say theyโre sorry and act contrite, but they are not repentant. They go to great lengths to look good, but their hearts are not with you. And the evil person is a wicked person who intentionally seeks to harm you.
Jesus dealt with these three types of people differently, and so should we. If weโre going to grow to be like Jesus, we should learn to recognize these three different groups and how to relate to them. Evaluating how we relate to different people, what we desire from them, and how we let them impact us are all important signposts that help us understand the ideas in our hearts.
- Words. Matthew 15 echoes the passage we just read in Mark, and many Christians know that what we speak reflects our hearts. This doesnโt just relate to what we say, but also how we say it and to whom.
This may be one of the easiest Indicators to evaluate. Just ask your spouse or close friend whether what you say and how you say it reminds them of how Jesus spoke to His closest friends. Ouch.
But itโs also one of the least reliable Indicators. Talk can really be cheap. Our culture tends to place great importance on the spoken word, but weโll explore why words alone cannot be a reliable indicator.
- Time. We invest our time in what or whom we love. Where we spend our time tells us a ton about the desires and ideas in our hearts.
- Money. There are over 500 verses in the Bible about prayer. There are over 2,000 verses that mention money.
I used to teach Biblical financial stewardship to couples and families, and I taught that how we treat our money is the primary indicator of our spiritual maturity. As Iโve studied the concept of ideas, guess what? How we treat our money is a great signpost pointing back to the desires and ideas in our hearts.
In fact, we can generally gauge our discipleship journey more by evaluating how we use money than by how many church services or Bible studies we attend.
There they are, the Eight Heartview Indicators: thoughts, emotions, health, actions, relationships, words, time, and money. If we have a desire to dive into deep discipleship, practicing Heartview with God and a trusted friend is invaluable as we seek to understand the ideas that power us.
Thatโs just a little taste of whatโs coming up in a few episodes.
Thanks for listening! If youโd like more information on the work of Soil and Roots, check out the website at soilandroots.org. You may join our email list there, and we invite you to join the community of folks who financially support Soil and Roots as well. Feel free to email us at fish@soilandroots.org. Weโll see you next time.
[1] New American Standard Bible: 1995 update (Mk 7:20โ23). (1995). The Lockman Foundation.
[2] New American Standard Bible: 1995 update (Pr 23:6โ7). (1995). The Lockman Foundation.
[3] Dodd, C. (2014). The Voice of the Heart: A Call to Full Living (p. X). Chris Dodd.
[4] New American Standard Bible: 1995 update (Pr 3:7โ8). (1995). The Lockman Foundation.
[5] New American Standard Bible: 1995 update (Pr 13:20). (1995). The Lockman Foundation.
