Why is a different question than how and what.

When you speak of what you speak of a product.

When you speak of how you speak of a process.

But when you inquire why you are delving into motive which is a function of your heart.

Even though I write about a variety of topics, and there are numerous resources available through Lifetime.org, underlying every article and every message is heart, both yours and the heart of Christianity.

While we speak of how and what, the distinguishing mark of Lifetime-PHG in all we do is why. We begin with the seat of motive—your heart—and then work our way outward through the soul and spirit into practical living.

For example: There are those who instruct you to read your Bible (what). Some offer guidance regarding how you read your Bible. We delve into the motive underlying why you read your Bible.

It is one thing to be told to produce a product like Bible reading, another to understand why. When you comprehend that spending time with God in His Word is motivated by a deep desire to know your heavenly Father, it is a powerful incentive, much more powerful than the simple discipline of a routine.

In short, others work from spiritual performance inward to create spiritual change. I believe Scripture is saying that you are already changed spiritually into a new person. The challenge is to align your performance with what is true of you internally. This means, spiritual living is done from heart motivation outward so that your performance reflects your true nature.

No aspect of humanity is more mysterious than the heart. For a lot of theologians, especially those of the Reformed persuasion, their explanation for why you sin is attributed to having a dark heart. They cite Jeremiah as proof: “The heart is more deceitful than all else / And is desperately sick” (17:9).  

But there is a problem with this explanation: Jeremiah is referencing the condition of a person’s heart who is rebellious toward God. Elsewhere, both he and Ezekiel note that with salvation God gives a Believer a new heart (cf. Jer. 31:33; Ezk. 36:26a).

At salvation, you are gifted with a new nature capable of bonding with God in your spirit. Your soul is endowed with the mindfulness of Christ, a compulsion toward Him, and the intent to please God in all you do. Thus, not only are you given a new spirit, but your soul—mind, emotion, and will—is made new as well.

But we still haven’t located your heart.

Heart is a word of nuance with multiple uses. Ancients felt the deepest aspect of humans was either their kidneys or their bowels. They recognized something deep, internal, visceral, and instinctual. Later writers identified this core place as heart—and this term has carried forward into current use.

But the definition of heart remains multi-faceted. There is a beating organ within your chest called your heart. When you think with care, offer encouragement, exhortation, and demonstrate perseverance you are exhibiting mental heart, sometimes referred to as mental toughness. Emotional heart is the umbrella use for passion, affinity, love, and compassion—a person of great heart, we say. When you exercise a willful heart you exhibit determination, decisiveness, resolve, and loyalty.

Thinking about your spiritual heart, it’s safe to conclude that when Paul writes the “one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him" he is conveying that your new heart and the heart of God have become one. You and God are bonded, not unlike being bonded to your spouse. In fact, when someone’s bond of love is broken, we say their heart is broken—and if you’ve had your heart broken, you know the pain settles literally in the vicinity of your body’s sternum, where your physical heart is.

The bond of your heart and God’s heart is so profound that Scripture emphasizes the impossibility of anything separating you. God’s desires—written on your heart—are your desires. The motive of the Holy Spirit defines your sincerest motivation, which is to know God. Thus, your motivation, your heartfelt desire, as a Christian is to reflect to others who you truly are as a new person in Christ as compared to the religious goal of appearing Christian by the things you do.

So why is it that this discussion of heart is important?

It’s because your heart drives and motivates the why of everything that matters to you.

Example: If I tell you to obey God, you will ask me how and by what metric your obedience is judged. But if I point out that your deepest desire is to obey God then motive is revealed. The entire essence of your being rises up—almost instinctually—compelled to fulfill your heart’s desire.

Inquiring why distinguishes you as a human being. No other created being or entity asks why except for humans.

Why am I here? Why do I matter? Why am I the only me that will ever be? Why do I suffer, and labor, and struggle? Why do I love? Each of these is what philosophers call an existential question, i.e., why do I exist?

In a few days, we will celebrate Christmas, the coming of God to Earth. Each Christmas, I’m struck with the magnitude of the Incarnation: “Why is it that you came, Jesus?”

The why of Jesus’ coming—incapsulated in His mercy—answers the why of your existence, why you matter, and equips you to respond from your heart. If this was not the case, then salvation wouldn’t bother to transform your desperately wicked heart and infuse into you a new heart possessing the capacity to bond with God.

It is in your heart to engage with what’s important to you at a deep, instinctual level. Your heart’s desire is to align the underlying why with all that is going on in your life, i.e., faith applied or made relevant. When properly oriented based upon Scripture, your why motivates your how and informs your what.

Why? Your heart is your spiritual intent to walk with God in all your ways, throughout all your days, until you’re done here. The how of this playing out in your life is described in Scripture as walking in the power of the Spirit. To exhibit this consistently is the what you desire to produce. But note, the how and what of your life are driven by why.

Why? Because it is in your heart to do so.

How? By trusting the life of Christ in and through you.

What? To demonstrate the love of God to all around you.

Thus, it is your natural desire as a new person in Christ to begin each day living from your heart. Personally, when I get up in the morning I “voice”—literally, think—my heart’s desire with a thought of determination like this: Father, thanks for a new day. I trust you. It is my resolve to live by my true desires, which are your desires, stored in my heart. Please give me your power and guidance.

Then, unless I run off into a ditch of sin, or the Spirit of God convicts me of wrong, I assume God is honoring the prayer I thought first thing while shuffling toward the bathroom.

This is what I believe the Bible means by walking in the Spirit.

The thought drafted in italics above is an example of what I think it means to pray. The intent, or my motive, underlying all of this is what I believe living from my new heart feels like, sounds like, and looks like.

I’ve written to encourage you. I’ve written to help you identify the motive from which spirituality blossoms. I’ve written in an attempt to locate and touch your heart—and by touching your heart, help you identify it in order to more confidently convert Christian theory into daily practice.

Now! Look into your heart and live.

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