Changing our nature...what has already occurred within

Why does God insist on making us loveable, lovely, whole?  For certainly he has always loved us, even when we were unlovable; yet this wasn't enough for him, says C.S. Lewis:

"...it is natural for us to wish that God had designed for us a less glorious and less arduous destiny; but then we are wishing not for more love but for less."  - C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

"We may wish, indeed, that we were of so little account to God that He left us alone to follow our natural impulses - that he would give over trying to train us into something so unlike our natural selves:  but once again, we are asking not for more Love, but for less."  -- C.S.  Lewis, The Problem of Pain

I want to answer Lewis here (not knowing how he might respond)...   In order to fashion us into the supernaturally glorious creatures he desires and loves into wholeness, God indeed did change our natural selves, our natural impulses -- from unlovely to noble and good.  This he did at the level of the heart. 

We need not wait for heaven for this.  It has already happened.  It is the promise of Ezekiel 36:26 fulfilled (and in other places throughout Scripture).  We now grow out of that new and noble nature with its noble impulses.  We practice our new nature.  Discipleship is learning how to live from that good heart.

Death by assumptions

One of my greatest concerns is that we must challenge our assumptions about the Gospel -- or what we think we know about it.  It actually might be better than we think it is. 

I don't mean that we should challenge the core doctrines of Christianity, or question the supremacy of Christ.  In my mind, that's been settled.

I do mean that the version of the Gospel we've been given may not, in fact, be the Gospel; or at best, a gross distortion of it.  For example:

Much of the Church has the impression that the Gospel is either about getting your sins forgiven by accepting God's gracious pardon and receiving the promise of heaven;  or, that the Gospel is all about evangelism, outreach, and new programs for reaching the lost.  There's truth in each of these, but not enough truth.

The Gospel is the offer of a good and noble heart.  Jesus comes to restore the person -- not simply let them off the hook.  His work is deeper, more glorious, and far more supernatural than the anemic "gospel" we've settled for. 

When you said 'yes' to him, your nature, your identity, underwent a remarkable transformation.  You no longer possess a sin nature.  You're still free to sin, but it's no longer who you are or what you want.  (I know, it doesn't often seem that way, but if you judge your heart by the failures of your former self - even the ongoing ones - you will end up in despair.)

People who don't question their assumptions about the offer of Jesus scare me, frankly.  Damage has been done by those who refuse to let new information form their opinions, who muzzle any perspective that does not align with their preconceived assumptions -- even if that new perspective is firmly rooted in Scripture!

If we don't get the Gospel (the offer of Jesus) right, then Lazarus is still in his grave clothes.

Podcast:  "A better way to relate to God" challenges these false assumptions about the offer of Jesus.    Click here to listen.

New look for website!

I've updated some visual and technical elements of the site, but all the content is just the same.  You can find everything here that was here before.  Enjoy. 

Staying with the message of the new heart

Quite frankly, it's difficult to believe I have a good heart sometimes. The evidence against it seems too strong.

Lately, there's been almost an unseen pull downwards, a drain-circling suck towards hopeless futility.  That dark undertow almost got me to draw some fatal conclusions about my own heart.  That pull is towards shame:

I've blown it with my kids a lot lately;  not given myself to my wife as she needs.  I'm actually craving the goodness of Jesus and his choices, begging him to give me his own maturity.  (If you think holiness is hard, try out your favorite addiction or uncontrolled craving for a while.  That's harder to live with.)

In these moments, we have two choices:  fatalism or freedom:

• Fatalism says:  I am the sum of my failures.  My heart cannot be good -- just look at the evidence against it.
• Freedom says:  My heart is my hope.  I am a new creation (my heart is now supernaturally restored by Christ.)  Despite the external evidence, there is a new internal reality.  My failures are no longer the truest me.  (Even the apostle Paul says this - Romans 7:20)

• You can't go by your failures.
• You can't go by what others think of you.
  
  
• You may not even be able to go by what you've been told by church leaders in the past.

Stay with the truth:  your heart is good now.  Jesus made it so.
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To understand your new heart more, Recover Your Good Heart -- Living free from religious guilt and the shame of not good-enough unpacks what Scripture says about your new heart.

Or you can start with the FREE e-book I wrote:  click here.

A better way to read the Old Testament - without shame

For decades, the manner in which I read the Old Testament only furthered my shame.
 
I had forgotten to make the critical shift from the Old Way to the New Way--  the old heart to the new heart.  For example, if you read an Old Testament passage like the one below, and forget that something has changed inside you as a result of Christ's work, what would you feel?

"Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me."  - Psalm 51:10

My reaction would be:  "Wow, maybe I should be feeling what David is here; I guess I'm supposed to be confessing my sin, examining my selfish heart and repenting about something.  It sounds pretty spiritual and pretty important.  What, exactly, am I supposed to be feeling bad about?  I'm not sure, but I'd better get to work on this repenting thing and ask God to fix my heart."

The problem with that sort of reaction is that it is out of date.  It is an Old Covenant response to a problem that was solved for you in the New Covenant.  Meaning....David's cry for a clean heart has already been answered in the work on Jesus for you.  You've been given a new and pure heart already because you said 'yes' to him.  (Ezekiel 36:26 -- "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you...") 

As we read the Old Covenant, we must now read it from a new heart perspective (you now have a clean heart that does want what God wants).  We make the shift from guilt and shame...to restoration and freedom of heart.

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For more on this, my book Recover Your Good Heart goes into more detail on what Scripture says about our new hearts.

Free e-book from Jim - "THE GOSPEL OF THE HEART"

I'm making this e-book free of charge.  Download or share it as much as you want.
This short e-book exposes the false gospel that manages the externals and sabotages our hearts.

E-Book-The Gospel of the Heart-Author Jim Robbins

New podcast -- "Let us take the adventure"

Let us take the adventure - Join Jim as he talks about the adventure he and his family have been on for the last five years; the pain of unfulfilled longing, and the journey it has taken them on as they arrive at the place of their dreams (with no job, no friends, and the great unknown).  (9/10/09)

Emotions -- friend or foe? You may be surprised.

Emotions can't be trusted.

Strong emotions will lead you into sin.

Believing the right things is more important than feelings.

Just do your duty, whether you feel something or not.

Love is a 'verb.'

Reason and the intellect are more trustworthy than the heart.

What do you think of these typical typical responses to emotions and their place in the Christian life? Are these statements true? 

I've discovered a book called, Feel -- the power of listening to your heart, by Matthew Elliott.  His claim is that much of what the Christian community has taught about emotions, is in fact, not biblical.  The Church has bought into secular psychology and philosophy rather than a biblical position on the place of emotion in our lives.  It's actually a bit surprising.

The author claims,
I realized this idea [the suspicion and villification of emotion] was the prevailing Christian view of emotions - and this "Christian" view was essentially platonic [from Plato], a secular perspective in line with the view of Descartes, [William ]James, and - if you can believe it - none other than Charles Darwin."  p.20

What have you been told about emotions and their place in the Christian life?

I'll be following up this conversation on emotions in upcoming posts.

THE GOOD & NOBLE HEART community

For those who may not know, I set up an online community based around the message of the Christian's good and noble heart.  Folks are finding meaningful connections there and talking about the things of the heart (the center of the person, in Scripture). 

Joining is free.  Set up your own page, blog, discussion topics.  Click here for more.

Now available as a free download

I'm making my first book, OUTPOSTS OF THE KINGDOM - LIFE AFTER CHURCH-AS-WE-KNOW-IT available as a free download to anyone who is interested.   Not just a sample, but the whole book.  Enjoy.

Click here to read more about the book or to download it.

The pleasure of your purpose

I once asked someone how a person discovers their purpose. Let's face it, many people are stuck in jobs they despise, spending endless hours engaged in actities that mean almost nothing to them.  And they are hungry for more. 

The person I asked quoted Frederick Buechner (who is always good to quote) saying, “The place God calls you to is the place where your deepest gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

So what brings you a vitality of heart, so that when you are engaged in it, you "feel his pleasure" as the great Scottish runner, Eric Liddell, once said; and you feel your pleasure?  Where is your deep gladness, your raison d'etre? 

You must listen to your heart, but will find it very difficult to do so if you do not begin trusting the deep desires God has placed there.  After all, you have a new heart, and new set of desires that will guide you if you listen to them.  God has given you permission to do so.

Man's ideal state is realized when he has fulfilled the purpose for which he is born.  And what is it that reason demands of him?  Something very easy - that he live in accordance with his own nature."
 - SENECA

The full interview - Steve Brown interviews Jim about his book, Recover Your Good Heart

Full interview - Steve Brown interviews Jim about Recover Your Good Heart.

Lessons the Church can learn from Delta Force

What can the Church learn from a former Delta Force commander who has served behind enemy lines in Bosnia and Afganistan in a variety of special op's situations? A guy who knows how to operate at the cusp of life and death?

Delta Force is arguable the most elite counter-terrorism force in the world.  I read Pete Blaber's book, The Mission, The Men, and Me for the fun of it, and the vicarious partication in his full-throtled adventures; but discovered something about why the Church gets broken and fails to function as an organic, highly effective organism.

One of Blabers central tenets in the book is, "organize for the mission."  Rather than applying a rigid, predetermined hierarchy over the top of all our activity, it's far better to let the mission inform our organizing and the way we gather.  As a tangential principle, Blaber also suggests that those in leadership "listen to the guy on the ground" because that guy has context-- firsthand, tacit knowledge of what's going on.  So why not ask him or her, "What's your recommendation?" suggests the Delta Force commander ...and take that recommendation seriously.

When your fellowship or team asks, "How are we going to do this?  How are we going to accomplish the mission of Jesus?" don't get lulled into the familiar modes of rigid and inflexible organizing.  Allow the mission of Jesus to determine the "how."  Will the way you go about it allow you to be light and mobile, adaptable and flexible?  Or will it force shackle you into institutional and time-honored structures that serve no one but those at the top? 

More specifically, when launching into a specific mission, the one Jesus has asked you to follow him into, ask, "How does the nature of this specific mission direct how we organize, gather, and function together?  How will we relate to each other because of this particular mission?  How will decisions be made and leadership lived out? 

What do you think are some clues from Jesus' own sense of mission, and how he "organized" his band of disciples?  How is this different than most organizational approaches, most ideas about Church?

All things are not good.

Aren't you a bit tweaked whenever a well-meaning friend attempts to shape your thinking by quoting, "All things work together for good..."?  But wait a minute.  I'm hurting here, and you've just avoided my pain by quoting Scripture at me.

Thankfully, a friend of mine didn't do that the other day.  He shared with me a perspective of author Dallas Willard on this passage:  Just because all things work together for good, does not imply that all those things are good things.  Some of them might be down right nasty, and it's not helpful to sugercoat them.  However, just as you wouldn't want to eat the raw eggs or the flower by themselves while mixing up the ingredients to a cake, you can be assured that the final outcome will be worked into a whole that supercedes the sum of its ingredients.  You do want the cake... as a whole. 

I think this framework does justice to our pain, while acknowledging God's redemptive and creative hand.

Steve Brown, Etc. interview- Guest Jim Robbins

Steve Brown (Steve Brown, Etc. radio show) talks with Jim about his book, Recover Your Good Heart -- Living free from religious guilt and the shame of not good-enough.

Steve has interviewed the likes of Frank Viola, John Eldredge, Tony Campolo .

Steve's show is a blast.

Here's the 'live' interview.  The full interview will be posted next week.

 

TODAY: Steve Brown interviews Jim about "Recover Your Good Heart"

Today:

Steve Brown's interview with me will air. Steve has interviewed the likes of Frank Viola, John Eldredge, Tony Campolo .

Interview airs Friday, July 24th at noon.

We talked about my book, Recover Your Good Heart, the kind of authenticity we really need, and the struggle of living from a new and good heart.

Check out Steve Brown, Etc.

The surprising advantage of setbacks.

I've had several very snarky conversations with God lately.  I really don't like him much right now.  As Mother Teresa said, "God would have more friends if he treated the ones he as better."

Why?  In one week, my family and I are making an 800-mile move to the town of our dreams.  God has endorsed it and confirmed it.  But, he's asked us to go without a job in place.  Heck, we don't even know where we'll be living, yet.  During the last year of trying to sell our house, we've faced setback after setback:  the first contract fell through.   Then, we found out that the house we were hoping to rent in the new town was being managed by a guy with a shoddy reputation, and there weren't any other rental listings.  Then a great house came open, I flew 800 miles to see the house and sign a lease with a new realtor.  I got back home waiting for the lease to to be completed so I could sign-off, and got a call from my realtor that the owner sold the house out from under us.  The owner was secretly entertaining a buyer while saying he would rent to us.

Now, the only house available has a hole in the porch wall, concrete debris piled up in the yard, has a nasty hole in the siding, and is swallowed by overgrown hedges so that you can't even see the house from the street.  Ah, the joy of renting.

As Philip Yancey wrote, "God would rather we wrestle with him than ignore him."  So, as I ranted and raged against God (believe me, it wasn't pretty), the thought occured to me:  Perhaps God is allowing the setbacks and disappointments because he wants me to have the experience of being rescued.  Without the setbacks, there's no opportunity for rescue.  Rescue requires uncertainty, helplessness and hardship:  "Jim, I want you to know that I can come through for you.  The setbacks create the opportunity to experience that."

"Fear is so...not helpful." New forum topic

Share you experience of fear at THE GOOD &  NOBLE HEART Community.  Click here to check out the forum.

Jim is interviewed on Steve Brown, Etc. -- airs Friday at noon

This Friday..Steve Brown's interview with me will air. Steve has interviewed the likes of Frank Viola, John Eldredge, Tony Campolo ... and now...to my grateful amazement, me. 

Interview airs Friday, July 24th at noon.

We talked about my book, Recover Your Good Heart, the kind of authenticity we really need, and the struggle of living from a new and good heart.

Check out Steve Brown, Etc.

"What have you been told about your heart?" - podcast archives

“What Have You Been Told?” 3/22/07

Many Christians have been told that the heart is “deceitfully wicked.” (Jeremiah 17:9) Is this true of Christians as well? Do you believe that your heart if still dark, disobedient and not to be trusted?