Our culture seems to be hardening the heart to be compassionate let alone receptive to God’s invitation to surrender to Him. The heart is the center of our moral choices and intentions. How we live out our goals, demonstrate our actions and beliefs, and the way we treat others originate from our heart. One Christian psychologist (Dr. Caroline Leaf) explains that our heart informs our mind, emotions, and life outcomes. We won’t see lasting change or progress without addressing issues of our heart.
“The revolution of Jesus is in the first place and continuously a revolution of the human heart or spirit. It did not and does not proceed by means of the formation of social institutions and laws, the outer forms of our existence, intending that these would then impose a good order of life upon people who come under their power. Rather, his is a revolution of character, which proceeds by changing people from the inside through ongoing personal relationship to God in Christ and to one another. It is one that changes their ideas, beliefs, feelings, and habits of choice, as well as their bodily tendencies and social relations. It penetrates to the deepest layers of their soul.” - Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart: Putting On the Character of Christ
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