Renovation of the Heart
Spiritual Change (3|3) + Interlude
Pages 86-94
• The Intention to Be a Kingdom Person
• Intention Involves Decision
• Means
• Training “off the Spot”
• Interlude
TOGETHER read the devotional and the scripture.
INDIVIDUALLY take notes in your journal on what stands out.
Psalm 15 (NIV) LORD, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain? The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart; whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbor, and casts no slur on others; who despises a vile person but honors those who fear the LORD; who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and does not change their mind; who lends money to the poor without interest; who does not accept a bribe against the innocent. Whoever does these things will never be shaken.
TOGETHER pray for one another.
INDIVIDUALLY answer the questions in your journal - process your devotional notes and pray.
The Intention to Be a Kingdom Person
”The vision of life in the kingdom through reliance upon Jesus makes it possible for us to intend to live in the kingdom as he did. - We intend to live in the kingdom of God by intending to obey the precise example and teachings of Jesus. This is the form that trust in him takes. It does not take the form of merely believing things about him, however true they may be. Indeed, no one can actually believe the truth about him without trusting him by intending to obey him.”
How, concretely, can we “intend to live in the kingdom of God” now?
”Knowing the “right answers” - knowing which ones they are, being able to identify them - does not mean we believe them. To believe them, like believing anything else, means that we are set to act as if they (the right answers) are true and that we will do so in appropriate circumstances. And acting as if the right answers are true means, in turn, that we intend to obey the example and teachings of Jesus the Anointed. What else would we intend if we believed he is who his people through the ages have declared him to be?”
How does intention relate to decision? Can “knowing the right answers” substitute for intention and decision in the spiritual life?
Intention Involves Decision
“We commonly find people who say they intend (or intended) to do certain things that they do (or did) not do. To be fair, external circumstances may sometimes have prevented them from carrying out the action. And habits deeply rooted in our bodies and life contexts can, for a while, thwart even a sincere intention. But if something like that is not the case, we know that they never actually decided to do what they say they intended to do, and that they, therefore, did not really intend to do it. They therefore lack the power and order that intention brings into life process.”
What does this mean and what is your response?
Means
“When my neighbor who has triumphed over me in the past now stands before me in a need I can remedy, I will not be able “on the spot” to do the good thing if my inner being is filled with all the thoughts, feelings, and habits that characterize the ruined soul and its world. Rather, if I intend to obey Jesus Christ, I must intend and decide to become the kind of person who would obey. That is, I must find the means of changing my inner being until it is substantially like his, pervasively characterized by his thoughts, feelings, habits, and relationship to the Father.”
What are the main means that you personally use for implementing your decision to live in the kingdom of God now? Are they adequate to the intention?
Training “off the Spot”
“In the spiritual life, it is actually true that ‘where there is a will there is a way.’ This is true here because God is involved and makes His help available to those who seek it. - On the other hand, where there is no will (firm intentions based on clear vision) there is no way. People who do not intend to be inwardly transformed, so that obedience to Christ ‘comes naturally.’ will not be - no matter what means they think themselves as employing. God is not going to pick us up by the seat of our pants, as it were, and throw us into transformed kingdom living, into ‘holiness’.”
What measures of “off the spot” training for obedience to Christ do you employ?
Interlude
“To ‘grow in grace’ means to utilize more and more grace to live by, until everything we do is assisted by grace. Then, whatever we do in word or deed will all be done in the name of the Lord Jesus (Colossians 3:17). The greatest saints are not those who need less grace, but those who consume the most grace, who indeed are most in need of grace - those who are saturated by grace, who indeed are most in need of grace - those who are saturated by grace in every dimension of their being. Grace to them is like breath.”
What does (God’s) grace mean to you and how is your life affected by it?
EXTRA READING:
“Let us strive to enter by the narrow gate. Just as the trees if they have not stood before the winter’s storms cannot bear fruit, so it is with us; this present age is a storm and it is only through many trials and temptations that we can obtain an inheritance in the kingdom of heaven.”
- Theodora of Alexandria (6th century) Her birth and death dates were never recorded.