The Executive Center of Your Life
This quote from Dallas Willard is an adequate summary of our conversation about the heart:
The human heart, will, or spirit is the executive center of a human life. The heart is where decisions and choices are made for the whole person...
So does this mean that spiritual transformation is simple - just start with the heart, and it will all work out? Not quite...
This does not mean that the whole person actually does only what the heart directs, any more than a whole organization does precisely what the CEO directs...
Think of it this way: heart/will/spirit is the primary agent in transformation, and yet it's not the only thing that needs transformation. Transformation is complex, but it always starts with the heart.
...[H]uman life as a whole does not run by will alone. Far from it. Nevertheless, life must be organized by the will if it is to be organized at all. It can only be pulled together "from the inside." That is the function of the will or heart: to organize our life as a whole, and indeed, to organize it around God. And of course life must be organized, and organized well, if one's existence is to be even fairly tolerable to one's self or those around. Every civilization of any type has recognized this.
...When successful, spiritual formation (or really, re-formation) unites the divided heart and life of the individual.
(all quotes are from Renovation of the Heart by Dallas Willard)
The human heart, will, or spirit is the executive center of a human life. The heart is where decisions and choices are made for the whole person...
So does this mean that spiritual transformation is simple - just start with the heart, and it will all work out? Not quite...
This does not mean that the whole person actually does only what the heart directs, any more than a whole organization does precisely what the CEO directs...
Think of it this way: heart/will/spirit is the primary agent in transformation, and yet it's not the only thing that needs transformation. Transformation is complex, but it always starts with the heart.
...[H]uman life as a whole does not run by will alone. Far from it. Nevertheless, life must be organized by the will if it is to be organized at all. It can only be pulled together "from the inside." That is the function of the will or heart: to organize our life as a whole, and indeed, to organize it around God. And of course life must be organized, and organized well, if one's existence is to be even fairly tolerable to one's self or those around. Every civilization of any type has recognized this.
...When successful, spiritual formation (or really, re-formation) unites the divided heart and life of the individual.
(all quotes are from Renovation of the Heart by Dallas Willard)
posted by Bob | 7:50 AM
1 Comments:
In John 14:20 it states "...you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you" regarding the holy spirit and as mentioned in the sermon, spirit is synonymous with the heart. This verse made so much sense to me after last Sunday.
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