Had a conversation the other day with a friend, one of those philosophical kinds of conversations where the words just fly around, words we don’t use much in our daily expression. It caused me to think of ‘what are some of my favorite words’. I thought back to a word like ‘freedom’, not the Constitution one but the Bible, personal one. To me, Gospel freedom is made up of the curiosity to wonder and the courage to live it out, to do what you passionately believe. It’s a ‘free’ that comes with a heavy dose of thanksgiving for having experienced it. It’s an internal freedom, more comparable to ‘living out of your heart’ freedom. It has roots, of course, in people: my parents, my family, friends, bosses, and 35 years of Christian broadcasting. Our WBVN listeners have permitted a kind of ‘free-wheeling’ application of CCM over the radio. BVNers that have allowed us to live out what we ‘imagined’ was our God-given purpose with this radio ministry. In 1988, my wife (even while being responsible for three little girls) understood and loosened the reins so that I could just do what really was on the inside of me, let me express it on the outside. Freedom has been a long, wonderful road. It’s a little like being an artist and, handed brushes and paint, being told to paint anything you want.
I also began remembering how the Gospel has been central to freedom since I first discovered ‘Lord’ on April 16th, 1963. From that moment I discovered a new life/freedom that’s never been diluted,
never faded. I’ll explain by using a couple more of my favorite words. The words are ‘mom’ and ‘dad’. When I remember them I go back to a remarkable time; one that can’t be duplicated in my mind using any other words. I always say ‘I cheated in this life’ because I had a mom and dad that gave me the best possible way to discover all the ‘heart values’ of this life. Neither were scholarly, both left school after the 8th grade and began life simply as helpers in each of their families. Neither had any money, possessed no superior skills, not great thinkers of life, had no great passions. But they had a natural love for their kids. Just the thought of those two words (‘mom’/’dad’) takes me back to a special time and special place. When I think of those words I step back into it, I feel that again, I see them again and I’m grateful again for the little things they did to make my adult life more free. ‘Mom and dad’ are two of the most grateful/pleasurable words I ever say; it’s nice to go back to the freedom from any fears in that place.
For many years we’ve played a song written by Randy Phillips of Phillips, Craig and Dean. ‘Tell Your Heart To Beat Again’ was composed after Randy attended a heart surgery performed by a doctor friend. Supposedly, at the end of the surgery, Randy watched as the doctor bent over the patient and spoke those 6 words. When I hear that lyric, I often think of yet another application for those 6 words. They are a call to remember the early years of my salvation. Tell your heart to ‘be alive’ again. They’re a call to question: ‘Am I missing the tenderness, peace and joy of April 16th’. Sometimes, I have to work hard to get back to that ‘first love’, peace, and comfort. A reboot might be needed occasionally. King David’s words found in Palms 51:10 are appropriate: ‘Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.’
The reason I say reboot: (1) what happened on April 16th, while it did one complete, perfect and permanent work: my spirit came alive unto God. It requires no refining, no more persuasion, no ‘add-on’. That spirit is made whole and complete and placed in our heart. It’s reliable, consistent, and trustworthy. However, (2) inside that same heart is our soul. The Spirit change is immediate, the soul is progressive (a new body is future). The soul is made up of our mind, will and emotions. It has been there all along and from early on dominated our heart. Once alive unto God we are a new creation but with a few furniture pieces to be moved around a bit, we still need a remodel of our mind, our will and our emotions. Our souls are not evil little creatures. But when they dominate they can be influenced by evil. When guided by the spirit, they can be beautiful and cooperative. I think it was God’s Wisdom to create mind, will and emotions in us to discover more of Him. I’m not sure we could appreciate the freedom in the Gospel without our mind, will and emotions. I put all three of them in a box called gifts from God to bless us.
That April 16th, something new started. A ‘metamorphosis’ described in Romans 12:2 referencing a renewing of our mind (soul). Our emotions are gifts to us, good emotions and bad ones play an important role in our lives. Many of my wonderful moments emotionally have been accompanied by Joy; some of my most wonderful moments have been accompanied with tears.
Jesus (Luke 12:51) taught he came to divide; not to divide people or cultures, but to separate the Wisdom of the spirit from the foolishness of the soul. He came to separate Truth from the lie, to define good in contrast to evil, do all that to make Life easier for us. James (1:21) references that the engrafted (inward growth) Word will save (to make sound, to preserve safe from danger, loss of destruction) our souls. I like to think of engrafted as meaning embedded, attached, tattooed. The Word, once tattooed into our hearts should rule and reign in times of terrific and in times of trouble. Spirit makes us stable; emotions are mostly flexible little things.
Adam and Eve were originally dominated by their relationship with the spirit. Then they stumbled into the grave mistake of letting their mind, will and emotions take priority over what they had previously done wisely: believe God. They did what they thought; they did not do what God said. The result was the fall of their spiritual life, a separation from the wisdom of God their Creator. Then and now, the spirit of anti-Christ counterfeits by persuading our mind, will and emotions, cheering them to dominate. If you look at all the demonic challenges Jesus faced while on earth, all were ‘housed’ in humans. The most dreaded ones driving people out of their mind, will and emotions into complete chaos.
Mathew 13:23 teaches about a progression of the soul, paraphrased: The Word (seed) engrafted into good ground will produce, some 30, some 60 and some 100. Similar teaching of Paul’s Romans 12:2 of the good, acceptable and perfect Will of God. All those are possible because of the spirit of God placed inside our hearts, planted to mentor, whisper and encourage us to follow the spirit and learn of God. Then we increase the spirit influence, we benefit and are blessed more and more by our mind, will and emotions responding to the spirit ‘homed’ in us. (Also- reference Eph. 4:23)
2Cor. 3:18: ‘We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord.’ The word changed there is the same one found in Romans. A progression from what we were before, because of the presence of God’s spirit within our hearts, becoming capable of having our minds, our wills and emotions converted into depending upon the Wisdom of God’s great Love. I’ve quoted Eugene Peterson’s ‘The Message Bible’ a few times before. I’m not sympathetic to every paraphrase in that Bible but do like this one referring to this verse.
‘Whenever, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are – face to face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We’re free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God; our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like Him.’ (Also- reference Col. 3:10)
What freedom I’ve found is connected to discovering how much I can trust in that spirit within me. That spirit is sufficient, complete and whole. God does not want simple behavioral changes; not just a change of habits. He does not want to suppress our personalities; He merely wants to change what we depend on in our hearts so that He can flow through you. What I get right in this life is not in my ability, it’s in the recognition of interpreting His Voice. God’s Voice is not one that we have to ask, ‘Whose voice is that?’ John 10:27 says His people hear and recognize His Voice. The original word there implies knows His tone. It’s not just any voice, it’s a specific voice, a familiar voice, one you immediately recognize, one that we can know exactly who’s speaking in our spirit. The safest paraphrase for me to say that is it’s not just an idea, not simply a thought; it’s the tone of the voice I’m hearing. Usually, in my experience, it’s about blessing others.