In late February, I had the treat of sitting under the teaching of Dallas Willard and John Ortberg at the Knowing Christ Conference sponsored by the Martin Institute/Dallas Willard Center at Westmont College. I took dozens of pages of notes, which I’m editing and sharing over a number of posts. Below are the part of my notes from his second presentation, “Understanding the Person: Including the Hidden Parts”
My standard disclaimer is that these are insights that I gained from listening to Dallas. They are sometimes his exact words. They are sometimes my own words or reflections. So, don’t assume that every word here is straight from him. And these are lightly edited, so bear with possible typos or grammatical goofs. With that in mind, I pray these notes will help you in your own journey with Christ.
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2. Mind (thoughts, feelings). Capacity to represent things. The will depends on the mind, and vice versa. Each aspect interacts with the others. What is on your mind sets the scene for your will to choose. It is also a reflection of where your heart is. Loving God with all your mind is to take your feelings and thoughts and devote them to what is good for God. Believing. Thinking. You don’t have to think about things you shouldn’t do. They do not have to linger in your mind. Work on your mind, whether feelings or representations. What you habitually feel is a major feature of your mind. It is tied up in what you think about. We must turn our minds to the love of God.
3. Social context (relations to others). People are relational beings. This is why the truth of the Trinity is so important for us. We are not made to live alone. We can’t actually do that. But our relationships to others must be a place where the love of God dwells. To love God, we must love our neighbor as ourselves. We must inject what is good for God into all of our relationships. Attack and withdrawal is a sad reality in most human relationships. This makes loving our neighbor impossible. We don’t attack people or withdraw from them in the love of God. You can’t love God and not love your neighbor. It doesn’t fit. God actually does love your neighbor. You can’t love God and hate someone He loves. That just doesn’t work. The best thing that could happen to our enemy is that they would come to love the God we know. They would cease, perhaps, to be our enemy. Often, the worst thing for a human being is to get their own way.
4. Strength (bodily dispositions and habits). The body is our power pack to live in on earth. It works mainly by habit, which is a good thing. This is a gift from God. Spiritual disciplines disrupt bad habits and replace them with good ones. Habits are what we do without thinking. We can’t actually live physically if we have to think about everything we do. Imagine walking while having to think about each muscle, about breathing, about moving your eyes to the next place you’ll step, etc. We really do need habits. We need good habits. We need to form them over time.
5. Soul. This is our deepest place. It is the integrative part. You aren’t your soul. Your soul isn’t going alone to heaven. You save people. You have to, though, to reach this part of a person to bring them to wholeness. You don’t often have direct access to this place. Occasionally, if you’re very quiet, the soul might show up. Disciplines allow the soul to surface, be recognized and be restored. Our souls can be restored. David reminds us of this in Psalm 23. The law restores the soul by bringing it into harmony with what God is doing.
Sometimes the soul is so broken that it requires special ministry. Each part of the person may need special attention for restoration. Psychologists and psychiatrists can help us. Medical doctors can help, too.
The great commandment of Mark 12 lists every dimension under Jesus’s kind of love. We must understand this. We are learning to do the things he said. We bring all parts of our person under His reign. Each part plays such an important role together in how we actually live. This is part of what going beyond Pharisee righteousness involves. Working with these parts is part of it. Jesus said that a good tree can’t produce bad fruit as an illustration. We are apt not to believe that a good tree cannot bring forth bad fruit. And so we don’t cultivate the good tree. You have to go to the depth of the person before you can begin to understand how the harmony of goodness and godliness can come into life. This happens in redemptive community. It would help if there were people close to you, perhaps even our churches, seeking to live this way together.
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Filed under: Church, Dallas Willard, Knowing Christ, Spiritual Formation Tagged: church, Dallas Willard, eternal life, Kingdom of God, Knowing Christ, Spiritual Formation
