Misplaced Affections

MISPLACED AFFECTIONS:
THE NATURE OF A SPIRITUALLY UNDISCIPLINED LIFE
__________________
The Senior Thesis
Presented to
Dr. David P. Bertch
The College at Southwestern
__________________
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for IDE 4203-A
__________________
by
Wes Terry
April 16, 2009

ABSTRACT
MISPLACED AFFECTIONS:
THE NATURE OF A SPIRITUALLY UNDISCIPLINED LIFE
This thesis will present the major contributors to why believers fail to practice
private spiritual disciplines. It will first argue that busyness, ignorance, and sin are the
most common of these contributors and will then explain specifically how each element
affects believers in regard to their spiritual vitality.
Section one introduces the thesis, defines the terms that are used, and then
gives a general summary of the problem.
Section two establishes the three categories of busyness, ignorance, and sin.
Then, each category is unpacked to illustrate specifically how they hinder the use of
private spiritual disciplines
Section three proposes a general solution by introducing the theme of
realigning one’s affections
Section four unpacks each category and shows how, by realigning one’s
affections, each category serves not as a hindrance but as a catalyst for private spiritual
disciplines.
Section five provides a summary of the arguments and restates the need for one
to realign his affections so that they are all directed towards God.
Wes Terry B.A.

Advisor: David P. Bertch Ph.D.
The College at Southwestern
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2009

MISPLACED AFFECTIONS
Jesus said that a disciple’s ability to fulfill all that the law and the prophets
have spoken hangs on two premises: loving God with all of one’s heart, soul, and mind,
and loving one’s neighbor as oneself. Discipleship, when held to this standard, is shown
to be a continual process of knowing God truly, loving him fully, and demonstrating that
love by loving others. However, showing the love of God outside of true communion
with God leaves one feeling empty and incomplete. For many, those feelings are due to a
lack of private spiritual disciplines. One who recognizes the importance of private
spiritual disciplines will understand that who a disciple is will directly affect the way in
which a disciple lives. What a person believes will always inform and influence what a
person does. Orthodoxy always precedes orthopraxy.
If knowledge of God comes by revelation and the expression of one’s heart to
God is spoken through prayer, private spiritual disciplines are necessary for one to truly
live out the Christian life; especially to the standard that Christ gave his disciples. Why is
it so hard to practice private spiritual disciplines? Why do believers sometimes feel as
though their quiet times are empty, cliché, and ineffective? There is no shortage of books
which try to answer those questions but, despite the abundance of resources, casual
Christianity still plagues churches all over America. The following will seek to explain
why the lack of private spiritual disciplines in the lives of believers should be attributed
to three categories: busyness, ignorance, and sin, and how one, after identifying these
causes, can fight against them in order to establish a closer, more intimate, walk with
Christ.
4
5
Diagnosing the Problem
There is not an exhaustive or standardized list of spiritual disciplines, although
many are better known and more widely practiced than others. Spiritual disciplines are
those practices that help believers grow in godliness. In the words of Donald Whitney,
“Spiritual disciplines are scriptural paths where we may expect to encounter the
transforming grace of God.”1 These spiritual disciplines have commonly been broken
down into two categories: corporate and private.
Private spiritual disciplines grow one in grace and knowledge, but on a
personal level. Private spiritual disciplines are exercised in the context of an intimate
personal walk with God. Some common examples would be private prayer, devotional
time spent reading Scripture and or other wholesome literature, solitude, and fasting.
Sadly, it is the private spiritual disciplines that have been neglected the most by believers
today. It is necessary for believers to understand that just as God spoke to Elijah in a
whisper, he often times uses the quiet moments of life to speak the loudest. His plan is an
effective one but it requires getting away, getting alone, and getting quiet.2
Unfortunately, the quite moments of life that are needed to exercise private
spiritual disciplines are very rare in the lives of evangelical Christians. Author Dallas
Willard maintains that this lack of silence is due to overestimating the seemingly good
things that have come from what has now been deemed as social and theological
progress.3 But progress is not simply moving forward. Moving forward just describes a
1
Donald Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (Colorado
Springs: NavPress, 1991), 28.
2
C.J. Mahaney and John Loftness, Disciplines for Life (Gaithersburg:
Sovereign Grace Ministries, 1992), 71.
3
Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God
Changes Lives (San Francisco: HarperCollins Publishers, 1991), 16.
6
change in one’s location. The question to ask when determining progress is whether or
not the changes that have been made are improvements from the previous reality. As C.S.
Lewis wrote, progress is “not just changing, but changing for the better.”4 More than a
locative change, progress is improving the conditions of one’s location. When defining
progress in this way, it is clear that progress in the area of private spiritual disciplines has
been very slow at best. Again, Dallas Willard exposes the problem when he states that,
“the church at present has lost any realistic and specific sense of what it means for the
individual believer to ‘grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ’ as 2 Peter 3:18 expresses it.” The saints of old might grimace at the current state
of affairs because while there seems to be intimacy between believers and their Lord in
speech, it is all together absent in their hearts.
Explaining the Conditions
Cultivating a dynamic relationship with God requires the same things that any
other relationship requires: time, understanding, and trust. An intimate walk with the
Lord does not happen effortlessly. Yet, many Christians, whether they would admit it or
not, have the notion that intimacy with God will miraculously “just happen.” While it is
indeed miraculous that God works in one to do works according to his good purpose, that
person is not passive in the process. It takes active involvement. Paul told the Philippians
to “work out their salvation with fear and trembling.” (Philippians 2:12) Man is never
robotic in the process of sanctification. He is morally accountable and one hundred
percent responsible. Consider this quote from author Jerry Bridges,
Though the power for godly character comes from Christ, the responsibility for
developing and displaying that character is ours. This principle seems to be one of
the most difficult for us to understand and apply. One day we sense our personal
responsibility and seek to live a godly life by the strengths of our own will power.
The next day, realizing the futility of trusting in ourselves, we turn it all over to
4
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: HarperCollins, 1952), 13.
7
Christ and abdicate our responsibility which is set forth in the Scriptures. We need
to learn that the Bible teaches both total responsibility and total dependence in all
aspects of the Christian life.5
If this is the case, a person who wishes to experience the Christian life in its
truest sense must develop disciplines that will spur him on in his spirituality when the
elements of life begin to rub against it. It is, therefore, necessary for one to actively guard
himself from and fight against those things that wage war against pious living. According
to this author, busyness, ignorance, and sin are the major armies in this war and so it
would be beneficial to explore these areas to see exactly why they have such power over
believers. The following will present each of these categories and explain in detail why
and how each one has negatively impacted a Christians desire to consistently practice
private spiritual disciplines.
Busyness
Busyness is a primary factor in preventing a person from exercising private
spiritual disciplines. “The business of America is busyness.”6 This is not a new problem
to American life. Americans have always prided themselves in their pragmatic philosophy
and in their efficiency when it comes to “getting things done.” Unfortunately, such
productivity has not come without its own costs. Speaking of this American phenomenon,
Alexis de Tocqueville wrote, “[American’s] occupations interest them passionately. They
are perpetually in action, and each one of their actions absorbs their soul; the fire that
they put into business affairs prevents them from becoming inflamed over ideas.”7 In
5
Jerry Bridges, The Practice of Godliness (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1983),
75-76.
6
Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Charles A. Anderson, Michael J. Sleasman, Everyday
Theology: How to Read Cultural Texts and Interpret Trends (Grand Rapids: Baker
Academic, 2007), 155.
7
Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, trans. Stephen D. Grant
(Endianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 2000), 294.
8
other words, de Tocqueville points out that Americans are so busy taking care of their
daily affairs that they have neither the time nor the desire to stop and contemplate why
they are doing what they are doing.
Most individuals wake up with a to-do list on their mind and go to bed with an
agenda for the next day. Daily planners are filled to the brim with appointments and
tasks. Christians, who find themselves in corporate America, work jobs that demand
excessive allegiance from their employers. And, since time is money in a corporate
environment, employees are usually asked to sacrifice their time more than anything else.
Harry Blamires asserts that “men can be so engrossed in performing functions in
contemporary society that they have neither the time nor the energy left for merely being
human.”8 Thus, much of humanity, because of its full-fledged dedication to activity, is
living at a sub-human level.
There is little room for leisure (of any sort) in the lives of most American
Christians. However, what one does with that small amount of free time communicates a
great deal of what is most important to him. “One of the most significant measures of a
person’s spiritual commitment is what he does with his discretionary or leisure time.”9
Even though the development of one’s spiritual life should take precedence over any
other thing, that is not always the case. There are multiple activities that fight for the
attention of believers; most of which carry the potential of having a negative impact on
one’s exercising of private spiritual disciplines.
Take for example how many hours of the day are spent by Christians watching
television. While the data changes with demographics, many Christians would say that
8
Harry Blamires, The Christian Mind: How Should A Christian Think?
(Vancouver: Regent College Publishing, 2005), 164.
9
Jerry White, The Power of Commitment (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1985),
67.
9
they watch at least two hours of television daily. There is nothing evil about two hours of
television, but there is something alarming about how drastically television can cut into
other activities. Leo Bogart, having studied extensively on the impact that television has
had on American culture, argues that it has stolen the once empty hours of the day such as
“sleeping, resting or sitting around” and has filled them with the euphoria of escapism.10
Bogart wrote his work in 1956. Television, since then, has only increased in its ability to
lure men and women, of all ages, into a dangerous detachment from their everyday
reality. This should be an issue of concern for any believer.
Television is not the only culprit. All forms of so called “new media” have this
kind of influence. Email, cell phones, pagers, pocket PC’s, desktops, laptops, social
networking, text messaging, and an interconnected human race beyond imagination have
seduced men and women into becoming busybodies with shallow relationships. A 2005
survey pointed out that “most Americans – including children – spend at least nine hours
a day watching TV, surfing the web, or talking on their cell phones. Of those hours, one-
third of the time is spent using two or more of those media at once.”11 Busyness has
plagued American communities at large. And, while it cannot be argued that technology
has no benefits, it clearly demands a very high price from those who submerse
themselves into it. Technology comes with a bias that leads one to think about the world
only through the “kind of rationality that is technology-like.”12
10
Leo Bogart, The Age of Television: A Study of Viewing Habits and the Impact
of Television on American Life (New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing, 1956), 60.
11
Mark Earley, "Breakpoint Commentaries: Get Unplugged," Break Point
Prison Fellowship, March 6, 2009,
http://www.breakpoint.org/listingarticle.asp?ID=11422/ (accessed March 9, 2009).
12
David F. Wells, Above All Earthly Powers: Christ in a Postmodern World
(Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2005), 36.
10
Technology is all about means. It serves as a perfect picture of American
pragmatism. As David Wells describes it, “Life is flattened out, its height and depth
surrendered as it is all reduced simply to process.”13 The more advanced the world’s
technology becomes the more likely people are to withdraw from reality. Having
abandoned an accurate understanding of that which is truly meaningful, they will instead
turn and retreat towards things that are meaningless: things that distract them. They will
retreat into the detriment of diversion.
The Detriment of Diversion
Excessive television usage, or any other form of escapism, is a gateway into
what Pascal called diversion. It is not the absence of leisure; rather, it is the misuse of it.
Peter Kreeft summarizes Pascal by saying, “We want to complexify our lives. We don’t
have to, we want to. We want to be harried and hassled and busy. Unconsciously, we want
the very thing we complain about.” 14 In the words of Pascal,
Man is so unhappy that he would be bored even if he had no cause for boredom, by
the very nature of his temperament, and he is so vain that, though he has a thousand
and one basic reasons for being bored, the slightest thing, like pushing a ball with a
billiard cue, will be enough to divert him.15
These words by Pascal show that all activity, from watching television to
playing pool, has the potential of leading one down the dangerous road of diversion. So,
in regard to the practice of private spiritual disciplines, this is not an argument against
television or any other form of activity; it is an argument against one falling into the trap
of diversion.
13
Ibid.
14
Blaise Pascal, Christianity for Modern Pagans, ed. Peter Kreeft (San
Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1993), 168.
15
Ibid., Pg. 174.
11
Theologian and philosopher Jonathan Edwards also put forth some warnings
about diversion by writing, “some diversion is doubtless lawful; but for Christians to
spend so much of their time, so many long evenings, in no other conversation than that
which tends to divert and amuse, if nothing worse, is a sinful way of spending time.”16
So, diversion can be present in every area of life: from the dullest conversation to the
most sophisticated technology. Given the odds, what should the believer do in response to
the detriment of diversion?
Consider this. How drastically would a person’s communion with God increase
if he were to just switch the amount of time he spent watching television with prayer and
reading Scripture.17 The results would be astronomical. Additionally, what one reads in
Scripture could have the potential of positively affecting that person for all of eternity
while what he saw on television might only impact him for two weeks, or two hours.
What a person experiences in prayer to God could invigorate him ten times more than a
night of mindless activity to escape boredom. So, diversion can be a dangerous thing. It is
what makes busyness such a problem in the Christian life. However, the problem of
busyness and diversion will not be solved by removing all activity from one’s life
because the problem is not exclusively an issue of how much one does; it is due to what
kind of activities one participates in and why one chooses to do so.
16
Jonathan Edwards, On Knowing Christ (Carlisle: The Banner of Truth Trust,
1997), 26.
17
The reader should note that television is just one example of what Christians
commonly use to divert their attention away from other things. Any activity has the
potential to serve as a means of diversion. Even Christian music and television have the
tendency of diverting one from truly experiencing the peace of God through rest and
solitude.
12
The Essence of the Problem
Many of the activities in life request the whole of a person as if to insinuate a
feeling of accomplishment. Yet, when all is said and done, one is left feeling dull,
unfulfilled, and wanting more. Why is this? According to Dallas Willard “the normal
course of day-to-day human interactions locks us into patterns of feeling, thought, and
action that are geared to a world set against God.”18 Many Christians are locked into a
lifestyle that is distinctly opposed to the life that Jesus called his disciples to live.
In essence, Christians are not only too busy; they are too busy doing the wrong
things with the wrong motives. When seventy percent of the activities that a person finds
himself involved in are hostile to the things of God, that person will discover that it is
hard to find pleasure in God while living out his day to day life. If all the things that
inform the worldview of a person are unchristian in principle, he will find it hard to
experience life as God has created one to experience it.
A study was done in 2007 by the Barna Group which found that “most of the
lifestyle activities of born-again Christians were statistically equivalent to those of non-
born-agains.”19 This should not be. The study went on to illustrate that if a person placed
Christians and non-Christians in a room with one another and was then asked to tell one
apart from the other based on their lifestyles alone, he would be hard pressed to find a
difference.20 This is the antithesis of orthodox Christianity. Christians are called to be salt
18
Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines (San Francisco: HarperCollins
Publishers, 1991), 160.
19
David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, Unchristian: What a New Generation
Really Thinks About Christianity and Why it Matters (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2007),
47.
20
Ibid.
13
and light. The people of God should be set apart as holy. The worldview of a disciple of
Jesus Christ should see and live life completely different than one who is an unbeliever.
A person with a Christian worldview will correctly see God as the only true
source of sustenance in this life and, because of that, he will align his lifestyle to
participate in activities that will nourish such a relationship. He will want to add to, not
subtract from, his holiness. This concept has been lost by the Christian community at
large. Many of the activities that Christians find themselves giving their allegiance to are
set against God and his purposes. Thus, when one is captivated by the busyness of life
rather than the Giver of life, he will begin to see those areas of his life conflict with his
ability to exercise private spiritual disciplines.
Sadly, this can even come to fruition in the context of local church activities.
The potential for losing sight of God in this environment is even greater because one may
cling to the false notion that involvement in the things of God will automatically result in
communion with God. Reggie McNeal paints a vivid picture of this fallacious thinking
with these words:
The elevation of one’s participation in church activity to being a litmus test for true
Christian piety might be the most ingenious ploy of the enemy ever. Rather than
tempt Christians and their spiritual leaders with works of wickedness, he encourages
more and more good efforts. The effect in terms of spiritual vitality is remarkably
the same. Tired Christians do no evangelize. They lose judgment and choose
expediency over values-based decisions and living. Very few make the connection,
because each new challenge from the church and pulpit adds another layer of
activity to their already-overcrowded lives.21
So busyness battles against the practice of private spiritual disciplines on both
fronts. It can infect believers regardless of the environment they find themselves in:
home, office, and the church. Deep communion with God will always be challenged with
21
Reggie McNeal, A Work of Heart (San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 2000), 142.
14
one’s allegiance to activities that fight against it. Yet, busyness is only one contributor to
why Christians fail to practice private spiritual disciplines.
Ignorance
Another contributor to why Christians find it hard to exercise private spiritual
disciplines is because of ignorance.22 There are many believers who simply do not know
how or why a person should exercise private spiritual disciplines. If one lacks knowledge
in the area of private spiritual disciplines, it would also mean that his desire to exercise
them would be lacking as well. The problem of ignorance is really a manifestation of
tyranny. However, unlike other forms of tyranny, the tyranny of ignorance is one that is
brought about from within.
Again, de Tocqueville made a startling connection when he wrote, “Life there
[in America] is passed in the midst of movement and commotion, and men there are so
busy acting that little time is left to them for thinking.” 23 This tyranny of non-thinking is
usually unnoticed and brought on very slowly, but the truth is that there has been a
progressive deterioration of the American mind and Christians have not been exempt
from this problem. While meaningless activity is an issue, the problem of ignorance may
very well be more alarming for the Christian who fails to exercise private spiritual
disciplines.
22
This is not meant to be degrading or to insult the intelligence of any given
person. Rather, it is meant to communicate the general lack of knowledge that many have
concerning private spiritual disciplines.
23
Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, trans. Stephen D. Grant
(Endianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 2000), 294.
15
The Loss of the Mind
Herry Blamires submits that the “Christian mind has succumbed to the secular
drift with a degree of weakness unmatched in Christian History.” 24 The Evangelical mind
has been brainwashed to believe that the mind is useless unless it is beneficial to one’s
experience or pleasure. According to J.P. Moreland, “the contemporary Christian mind is
starved, and as a result we have small, impoverished souls.”25 This argument is not
presented here to show that all Christians are idiots. That is not true. However, if the
Christian community continues to believe that ignorance is the highest end of all
education, in all fields of learning, idiocy is not far behind. However, the problem is more
complex than what one may think.
It is well known that in today’s information age knowledge of any given topic
is only one Google search away. With the click of a button one can be exposed to more
knowledge over any given topic than ever imaginable. Nancy Gibbs, writing on this
phenomenon, quotes James Trunzo as saying, “We are inundated with information. The
mind can’t handle it all. The pace is so fast now, I sometimes feel like a gunfighter
dodging bullets.”26 It is not a wonder why ignorance has plagued the Christian
community. The ability to access such incredible amounts of information over virtually
everything has led to disparity over knowing anything. Thinking well has become
pragmatic. It is only useful in the moments of immediate necessity and has value only in
regard to how beneficial it is to one’s experience.27 The problem of ignorance is

24
Henry Blamires, The Christian Mind (London: SPCK, 1963), 3.
25
J.P. Moreland, Love Your God With All Your Mind: The Role of Reason in the
Life of the Soul (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1997), 80.
26
Nancy Gibbs, "How America Has Run Out of Time," Time magazine, April
24, 1989.
27
William James, Pragmatism (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company,
1981), 29.
16
fundamentally an issue of one’s attitude towards learning and his motivations for
accessing theavailable information.
A lack of resources is not the issue. There is a wealth of information
concerning private spiritual disciplines in Scripture alone. Add to that the abundance of
audio resources, videos, books, conferences, and educational courses over private
spiritual disciplines and one has more than enough content to be able to properly
understand and exercise rigorous piety. So if limited resources are not the problem, what
is? Perhaps exploring the problem of ignorance as a spiritual dilemma will shed some
light on how serious it really is.
The Christian Mind Under Attack
The problem of ignorance is closely connected to the problem of busyness. The
issue lies in the battle that rages between worldliness and holiness. Christians are required
to be conversant with an overwhelming amount of information because they have
committed themselves to a tremendous amount of activity. While commitment to activity
is not bad, in and of itself, when those commitments hinder one from the pursuit of God
they have stolen opportunities for one to enjoy activities that will. Likewise, the pursuit
of knowledge in those areas of hindrance will also take away from the pursuit of
knowledge regarding the things of God. As Francis Schaeffer put it, the particulars will
begin to eat up the universals. Nature will eat up grace. The temporary will eat up the
eternal.28 Before one knows it, the way reality was once seen will suddenly be reversed
and, eventually, this paradigm shift will lead to despair.
Ignorance eliminates the time that is needed to learn the things that are truly
worth knowing. The God of techno-driven information through outlets such as the
28
These descriptions are borrowed from Schaeffer’s "upper story" and "lower
story" concept. Francis A. Schaeffer, The Francis A. Schaeffer Trilogy: The Three
Essential Books in One Volume (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1990), 215.
17
internet has led to a drought of truly meaningful information. What is needed to reverse
these trends? Joe Carter writes, “by unplugging the god of Technology you might find
something new in the pause – a still small voice sharing the information that truly
matters.”29 Sadly, this pause has been all together absent in the lives of most believers and
the result has been an unrestricted devotion to information that distracts from one from
Christ and weakens the mind.
The Apostle Paul pleaded against this type of devotion in Romans 12 when he
said that Christians should not “be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the
renewal of their mind,”30 that by testing they might discern what the will of God is. The
tension that one feels between fulfilling his own desires in contrast to fulfilling the
desires of God is described in the Bible as spiritual warfare. It is a serious battle that is
not easily won. Consistent devotion to God, especially when it comes to the mind, is a
constant struggle between the flesh and spirit. It is a spiritual battle on an earthly
battleground and should be recognized as such.
Paul understood the battle that rages between worldliness and holiness. In
Ephesians 6 he described it as a spiritual battle that required spiritual weaponry. It was
not a war against flesh and blood, but against the “spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly
places.” (Ephesians 6:12) However, many Christians no longer subscribe to that theory.
Consequently, their minds no longer function as distinctively Christian. Instead, their
minds have become conformed to the pattern of this world. Author J.P. Moreland explains
that this conformity has led to what psychologists describe as the empty self which “is
constituted by a set of values, motives, and habits of thought, feeling, and behavior that
29
Joe Carter, "Info-techno Sabbath: Unplugging The God Of Information
Technology," Boundless, September 27, 2007,
http://www.boundless.org/2005/articles/a0001584.cfm/ (accessed March 18, 2009).
30
Romans 12:2 Emphases Added.
18
perverts and eliminates the life of the mind and makes maturation in the way of Christ
extremely difficult.”31 Such a condition needs to be addressed because to dismiss the
problem of ignorance as unimportant or unspiritual is to embrace carnal Christianity and
unfruitful ministry. The problem of ignorance must be taken for what it is. It is not just
laziness. It goes deeper than that. It is a serious sin that has disastrous consequences.
Implications of Ignorance
This mindset of ignorance is running rampant among believers today and it has
resulted in moral bankruptcy and intellectual suicide. Mark Noll calls it a scandal.32
Relativism has become commonplace because there is no knowledge of truth.33 In today’s
climate, to be an intellectual is to be socially awkward and to have convictions built on
propositions is to be unfairly prejudicial. As Dallas Willard explains, “the fashion of the
age has identified mental sharpness with a pose, not with genuine intellectual method and
character."34 It is now common for one to view the skeptical mind as the true voice of
reason while the person of faith is seen as clinging to fairytales. This has not always been
true historically and may be part of the reason why the practice of private spiritual
disciplines has been neglected by so many believers. Faith is no longer seen as
intellectually honest and so for one to grow spiritually means that he must check his mind
in at the door.
31
This results in a mind that is individualistic, infantile, narcissistic, passive,
sensate, hurried and busy, and void of any interior development. Moreland’s explanation
of these characteristics shows in detail how the epidemic of the "empty self" has plagued
many Christians today. J.P. Moreland, Love Your God With All Your Mind: The Role of
Reason in the Life of the Soul (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1997), 88.
32
Mark Noll, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
1994), 3.
33
Os Guinness, Fit Bodies, Fat Minds: Why Evangelicals Don't Think and
What to do About It (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1994), 9.
34
Dallas Willard, In Search Of Guidance: Developing a Conversational
Relationship with God (San Francisco: HarperCollins Publishers, 1993), 235.
19
It is important to consider the concept of intellectual suicide in the context of
private spiritual disciplines because those disciplines hinge on one’s knowledge of God.
When Christians sacrifice true knowledge of God for pragmatic methods of soothing their
infantile theology and half baked worldview, the consequences are disastrous. For
example, the development of a well reasoned and theologically sound understanding of
the Christian religion would suddenly be seen as foolish and dogmatic, being stupid
would become cool, and learned ignorance would become the ultimate end of all
education.
Such ends may not be a present reality in today’s age but it is only a matter of
time before the ignorance of the day leads to widespread idiocy. Herbert Schlossberg’s
words ring true, “Christians must avoid the intellectual flabbiness of the larger society.
They must rally against the prevailing distrust of reason and the exaltation of the
irrational.”35 Ignorance is a deadly weapon in the hand of the enemy and it must be fought
against with all of the strength one has available to him. If believers fail to think in a way
that is distinctively Christian, who will be there to save the world from her awaiting
despair? If the Christian community does not wake up to the fact that their minds are
shrinking along with the rest of the culture, all hope is lost.
The Loss of the Eternal Perspective
Akin to the problem of ignorance is the refusal of Christians to think in terms
of the eternal. The Christian belief in eternity is one of the most important of all orthodox
convictions.36 Concerning matters of eternity, it is important for the Christian to maintain
a proper balance in his or her life. According to an orthodox Christian worldview, the
35
Herbert Schlossberg, Idols for Destruction (Nashville: Nelson, 1983), 322.
36
Mark A. Noll, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind (Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1994), 34.
20
eternal should always inform the temporary. The supernatural should always inform the
natural. To reverse the two or to cling wholeheartedly to only one will result in a
Christian mind that views reality wrongly.
For example, if one only focused on eternity, he might feel led to increase his
level of ignorance because “this world is not his home” and he is “just passing through;”
thus there is no real need to accumulate knowledge regarding things of this world because
his true home is in heaven. On the other hand, if one adopted a mentality that saw all of
life’s necessary knowledge as pertaining only to the immediate, he would fall into a
naturalistic philosophy and, subsequently, would lose sight of the fact that the creation
was made by an intelligent, personal, creator. He would fall into the fallacious thinking
that the temporary is all that is needed for an accurate understanding of the world.
The refusal by Christians to think in terms of the eternal will lead, and indeed
has led, to an absence of distinctively Christian thinking.37 Christian thinking needs both
a view of the eternal and of the temporal because a view of the eternal and supernatural
helps one to understand that which is temporal and natural. The eternal must inform the
temporal. The supernatural must inform the natural. The problem of ignorance is really
due to a reversal of the binaries. The temporal has become more important than the
eternal and, at times, the eternal has lead to a reckless abandon of the temporal.
“To accept life in this world as a gift from God, to live as though a deeper
understanding of existence leads to a deeper understanding of God, requires dedicated
and persistent thought, even as it requires dedicated and persistent spiritual vitality.”38 An
imbalanced worldview will open the flood gates to viewing God and his creation in a way
37
Ibid.
38
21
that it was never intended to be looked at. Every mind is a slave to its worldview. The
Christian should be enslaved to a worldview that views the temporal through the lens of
the eternal. Any other worldview will rot the mind, misrepresent reality, and, as the
following will show, it will pave the way for sin and guilt to trap one in the jail of their
wrongheadedness.
Sin and Guilt
Sin and guilt may seem like a catch all category, but it is a necessary one. Sin
has separated man from God ever since the fall of Adam. “Shame makes us want to reject
ourselves, feel as if God has rejected us, and fear the rejection of other godly people.”39
Most believers would say that they struggle with sin in various areas of their life.
According to Jesus, the source of sin is in the heart. (Matthew 15:19) Therefore, the
effects are pervasive. Sin can be found in one’s thoughts, actions, desires, and
motivations. For some men it may be lust or gluttony while for others it may be pride or
self-righteousness. Some women struggle with backbiting and gossiping while others
constantly fall into anxiety and selfishness.
Most sin, when seen for what it is, leaves a believer with a feeling of guilt and
shame. Pastor John MacArthur sees sin as the one and only cause of a guilty conscience.
“True guilt has only one cause, and that is sin. Until sin is dealt with, the conscience will
fight to accuse.”40 Just as Adam and Eve hid from God in the Garden of Eden because
they were ashamed of their nakedness, one will often resist the prayer closet because of
the shame he feels from his unconfessed sin. Such a condition will spiritually starve a
person. In the words of Matthew Henry, unconfessed sins have the power to “engross the
39
C.J Mahaney and John Loftness, Disciplines for Life: Steps to Spiritual
Strength (Gaithersburg: Sovereign Grace Ministries, 1992), 61.
40
John MacArthur, The Vanishing Conscience (Dallas: Word Publishing, 1994),
91.
22
whole soul, as they are apt enough to do insensibly, so that there is neither the time nor
heart for the evening devotions, either in private, or with the family.”41 The power of sin
is rooted deep within the soul and the effects of it damage the totality of one’s being.
Persistent sin also has an effect on one’s self-image. This has been most clearly
illustrated by C.S. Lewis when he described the human reaction to the moral law. Lewis
asserts that the less sin one has the more apt he is to see himself as a sinner. The more sin
one has the more apt he is to seeing himself as basically good. Explaining this he writes,
“When a man is getting better he understands more and more clearly the evil that is left in
him. When a man is getting worse he understands his badness less and less. A moderately
bad man knows he is not very good: a thoroughly bad man thinks he is all right.”42 The
latter is basically what it means for one to be “worldly” minded.
David Wells defines worldliness as at a system of values which has at its center
“our fallen human perspective, which displaces God and his truth from the world, and
which makes sin look normal and righteousness seem strange. It thus gives great
plausibility to what is morally wrong and makes what is wrong seem normal.”43 Wells
attributes this mentality to modernism and says that such thinking has jeopardized the
Christian’s view of God. Well’s also submits that if the Christian community is to be
revived it must recover its understanding of God’s moral nature and his divine
providence. “Without this recovery, evangelical faith would lose – if it has not already
lost – its moral pungency and its spiritual authenticity.”44

41
Matthew Henry, Experiencing God's Presence (New Kensington: Whitaker
House, 1997), 132.
42
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1980),
93.
43
David F. Wells, Losing Our Virtue: Why the Church Must Recover its Moral
Vision (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1998), 4.
44
Ibid.
23
Well’s wrote those words in 1998. Such advice should be heeded now more
than ever because the redefining of sin has slowly but successfully permeated the
Christian culture and, as Well’s would say, the Church has lost her moral pungency. The
Christian community has marginalized itself and consequently it has withdrawn its divine
authority for the sake of cultural relevancy. Unfortunately, both parties, the culture and
the Church, have lost their vision of biblical morality. Author Os Guinness describes the
condition of a culture which has lost its vision of morality with the following words:
“Each transgression serves as the permission and the dare to press on to the next. The
result is an entire society following the addict’s piecemeal slide into bondage and a
civilization’s descent into decay.”45 Modern man has redefined sin and the results of such
ignorance can be seen everywhere one looks.
Sin Redefined
Active participation in sin is not always the source of what keeps one from
practicing private spiritual disciplines. Sometimes one’s involvement with sin takes on a
more passive role that is closely integrated with the category of ignorance. There are
many who feel the effects of sin and guilt without even acknowledging it because sin has
been redefined to mean something completely different than what it represents in
Scripture.
The theology of sin has been repacked in a way so that it will placate the guilty
conscience and accommodate casual Christianity. In this way, ignorance and sin work
together to prevent one from exercising private spiritual disciplines. However, it is
extremely illogical to say that sin is not a serious issue. To redefine sin as unspiritual or
45
Os Guinness, Unspeakable: Facing Up to the Challenge of Evil (New York:
HarperCollins Publishers, 2006), 104.
24
as morally irrelevant is quite absurd. Author G.K. Chesterton explained the attempts of
modern theologians to redefine sin with the following words:
If it be true (as it certainly is) that a man can feel exquisite happiness in skinning a
cat, then the religious philosopher can only draw one of two deductions. He must
either deny the existence of God, as all atheists do; or he must deny the present
union between God and man, as all Christians do. The new theologians seem to
think it a highly rationalistic solution to deny the cat.46
Regardless of how illogical it may seem, sin is no longer seen as a spiritual
issue. It is not separation from God. Christians, instead of treating the source of sin only
mask its consequences with psychotherapy and pharmaceuticals. This is not to say that
medicines and therapy are unnecessary. However, such methods do need to be
reevaluated when they are the primary means of addressing sin because the concept of sin
as a spiritual issue is all of a sudden uncomfortable and unpopular. Dr. Henry Brandt
describes that this shift in thinking by Christians was made after modern science had
already abandoned the idea. “[When] psychologists were becoming distrustful of the
sickness approach to personality disturbances and were beginning to look more favorably
at moral and religious precepts, clergymen were getting caught up and bedazzled by it.”47
In other words, just when the medical field began to distrust their medicines to
treat sin, the Christian community adopted those same failed policies because sin as a
spiritual issue was no longer popular. Sin as a moral issue was seen by the Church as
culturally taboo and therefore they sacrificed an orthodox understanding of sin in order to
be culturally relevant. Seeing sin from this viewpoint not only shows up at a grassroots
level but it is also present in the scholastic community. Unfortunately, when Christian
46
Chesterton, G.K, Orthodoxy, ed. Craig M. Kibler (Lenoir: Reformation Press,
2002), 33.
47
Henry R. Brandt and Kerry L. Skinner, Breaking Free From the Bondage of
SIn (Eugene: Harvest House Publishers, 1994), 92.
25
theologians adopt this view of sin, it makes the impact of “redefined sin” even more
damaging.
Christof Gestrich submits that “human sin cannot possibly be a necessary part
of human self-realization in freedom, dignity, and love. If human identity involves such
self-realization, sin at any rate is not found along its path, but blocks its path.”48
Statements like these, from theologians like Gestrich, serve as a cesspool for the type of
liberal theology that glorifies man-centered righteousness and discourages Christian
humility. Sin is a sickness. However, it is a sickness that can only ultimately be cured
through God’s grace.
Gestrich’s worldview conflicts with Christian orthodoxy because it is rooted in
naturalism and evolutionary theory. Sadly, he is not alone in his convictions. One’s
feelings of guilt, according to Freud, should be attributed to the Oedipus Complex, not
rebellion against God.49 Voltaire violently rejected the doctrine of original sin.50 Thinkers
such as Locke51 and Rousseau52 saw the human condition as naturally good. None of
these men had an accurate understanding of sin and yet their ideas have infected a large
number of believers today. “The sad news is, the word ‘sin’ has nearly disappeared.”53
48
Christof Gestrich, The Return of Splendor in the World: The Christian
Doctrine of Sin and Forgiveness (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997),
59.
49
Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents (New York: W.W. Norton &
Company, 1961), 93.
50
Malcolm Hay, The Prejudices of Pascal (Great Britain: Aberdeen University
Press, 1962), 97.
51
John Locke, Second Treatise of Government (Indianapolis: Hackett
Publishing Company, 1989), 8.
52
Colin Brown, Philosophy and the Christian Faith (Downers Grove:
InterVarsity Press, 1968), 81.
53
26
The even sadder news is that the consequences of sin are still present and just ignored.
Modern man will pay the price. Eliminating the word sin from the human vocabulary will
not change the nature of sin, nor will it cure the condition of the human heart. As Stanton
Norman writes, “We deceive ourselves if we believe that we can either minimize or
eliminate the reality of sin simply by ignoring it or changing its name. Redefinitions or
misunderstandings about sin do not lessen our accountability.”54 In fact, such efforts
could themselves be considered sinful.
In today’s ethical environment there are no moral absolutes. Restraints on
human behavior are seen as oppressive and prejudicial. Who is anyone to claim a
certainty of right and wrong? The culture of today could be summarized with those
famous words in book of Judges: “everyone does what is right in their own eyes.”
Because of this mentality, sin has all the more power over believers because they fail to
see it for what it really is.
To challenge an idea or person as being sinful generalizes a person as an
intolerant fundamentalist. As Dennis McCallum illustrates, “The grossest possible sins
one could commit in the religious arena are showing intolerance and claiming
objectivity… Those who think they are objective are naïve, and dangerous.”55 Sin can no
longer be objective because that would give sin a point of reference. In a relativistic
society there can be no point of reference: only flux, only uncertainty.
O.S Hawkins explains the consequences of such thinking by writing these
words. “In this anything-goes day of ethical relativism, resisting temptation seems to
require a kind of moral fortitude that is not only practically unheard of, it is certainly
54
R. Stanton Norman, "Human Sinfulness," in A Theology for the Church, ed.
Akin, Danny (Nashville: Broadman and Holman Academic, 2007), 410.
55
Dennis McCallum, The Death of Truth (Minneapolis: Bethany House
27
unaspired to. We can excuse almost anything and everything.”56 This kind of climate
leaves little room for the practice of private spiritual disciplines. If there is no need for
fellowship and communion with one’s creator, there is likewise no need for a person to
involve himself with the practices that will increase the effectiveness of such a
relationship.
Proposing a Solution
Given the many fronts that fight against one’s desire and ability to practice
private spiritual disciplines, the thought of a vibrant personal relationship with Christ
looks very dim. Busyness removes all forms of leisure: whether physical, mental, or
spiritual.57 Overly stimulated minds will often retreat down a path of ignorance instead of
filtering information for the meaningful and significant. They will turn to diversion rather
than devotion. In addition to busyness and ignorance, sin and guilt join forces in order to
compromise a believer’s relationship with God and to blind believers from the
implications of human sinfulness.
The reader may notice, while it is easy for one to point out the problems,
solutions are not always so common-place. Complainers are seldom changers. Yet change
is what is so desperately needed in stimulating the vitality of private spiritual disciplines
in the lives of believers. In order to present a discourse on how this change might present
itself, the reader should recognize the positive element to each category. In short, the
solution to every category is not necessarily a change in activity or content but rather a
shift in one’s affections and thinking. The solution rests in a believer’s ability to think and
56
O.S Hawkins, Moral Earthquakes and Secret Faults: Protecting Yourself
From Minor Moral Lapses That Lead to Major Disaster (Dallas: Annuity Board of the
Southern Baptist Convention, 1996), 42.
57
Pieper Josef, Leisure: The Basis of Culture (Indianapolis: Pantheon Books,
1952), 48.
28
act Christianly. It is contingent on a Christian’s decision to see God, himself, and his
world as it truly is and to think and act in such a way that his affections are properly
aligned. To explain this idea, the following will illustrate how each category possesses an
element that one can use to realign his affections. Essentially, it will explore how what
was once a hindrance to exercising private spiritual disciplines can be redeemed so that it
serves as catalyst to growing in grace.
Busyness
For example, there is a positive element to busyness. Busy people are
committed people. They do not have a problem with laziness necessarily. In fact, most
people stay active in order to prevent the feeling of monotony. Richard Winter explains,
“We are not made for monotony. Even rats in a maze will try to escape monotony by
taking different routes to the food. Working for long hours at a repetitive task often
produces dissatisfaction and inefficiency.”58 A lack of commitment is not the issue.
However, if commitment and laziness are not the problem, what is? It has already been
argued above that the type of activity one is involved in could be problematic. However,
a simple change in activity will not remedy the situation. Solving the problem of
busyness runs much deeper than changing one’s activities. The solution is a change in
one’s affections for activity.
Since the solution to busyness may take some effort to unpack, an illustration
from Chesterton will be helpful. He writes, “In truth, the chief mark of our epoch is a
profound laziness and fatigue; and the fact is that the real laziness is the cause of the
apparent bustle.”59 Chesterton shows his genius by taking the idea of busyness as
58
Richard Winter, Still Bored in a Culture of Entertainment: Rediscovering
Passion and Wonder (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2002), 19.
59
G.K. Ghesterton, Orthodoxy, ed. Craig M. Kibler (Lenoir: Reformation Press,
2002), 183.
29
progress and reversing it. He sees senseless actively merely as unnecessary commotion
that is fueled by laziness. Chesterton presents busyness not as a balancing act of all things
available but, rather, as the absurdity of such efforts. The problem of busyness is not
necessarily a problem of participating in too many activities per say. It is a problem of
participating in too many pointless activities. The problem of busyness manifests itself
most clearly when one searches for meaning in activity that is meaningless.
Pascal also explored the theme of senseless activity in one of his Pensees on
distraction. “All of our life passes in this way: we seek rest by struggling against certain
obstacles, and once they are overcome, rest proves intolerable because of the boredom it
produces. We must get away from it and crave excitement.”60 Peter Kreeft, commenting
on this Pensees writes, “Even the rich and powerful need diversion – especially they –
which proves that even they – especially they – are unhappy.”61
Many Christians over commit themselves because of the belief that
commitment is synonymous with productivity. Likewise, there is a notion that any type of
accomplishment will inevitably result in happiness. It does not. Often times, one’s
commitment to activity for activity’s sake is the antithesis of what is required for
worthwhile accomplishments. Additionally, those achievements could drive one towards
insanity, not happiness. For example, the man who works long hours to provide for his
family may do so because he wants the best for his family. However, his absence from the
home fights against the very thing that he is working for: namely, the comfort of his
family. Thus, when his family begins to complain about his absence from the home, the
father hears those whom he is providing for complaining about his providence. In reality,
60
Blaise Pascal, Christianity for Modern Pagans, ed. Peter Kreeft (San
Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1993), 177.
61
Ibid.
30
though he is willing and able to accomplish what he has set out to do, doing so has led
him to insanity and not happiness.
Changing Affections
However true this may be, there is hope to be found in the fact that the problem
does not lie in one’s level of commitment. Most believers are very committed to
something. Therefore, if the problem does not lie in one’s level of commitment, it must
lie in the object of his affections. Augustine said that “God can be understood by the
things He made. It is the love of things made, instead of the Maker, that makes us subject
to the world.”62 There is nothing wrong with involving oneself with the activities of life
because much of God can be understood by what He has made. However, when a
person’s affections are found only in the things that God has made instead of in Him there
will remain a sense of restlessness and longing in his heart. The heart naturally longs for
its maker; thus too deprive oneself of the affections that will satisfy that longing will
leave the soul craving for something deeper than casual leisure.
This may sound grim but the problem of busyness is actually an easy one to
address. If it is true that one’s affections for activity are rooted in the idea that activity
will alleviate boredom, increase productivity, and lead to happiness there is not much that
needs to be changed. Theoretically speaking, all that needs to be changed is the object of
one’s affections. If one were to replace his desire for activity with a desire for God there
would be a dramatic shift in all three areas: boredom, productivity, and happiness. The
chief end of all activity would be to find God in the midst of any and all things that are
done during the day.
Additionally, the use of private spiritual disciplines would be seen as essential:
not auxiliary. Take, as an example, boredom. When one places his affections in God
62
Augustine, Confessions (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 2005), 142.
31
instead of activity, it will alleviate boredom. The reason that affections for God alleviate
boredom is because all of life, when it is under the lordship of Christ, is an area to
experience the wonder of God. If one is totally captivated by God, regardless of the
environment, boredom will be eliminated. Both stillness and activity would serve as
opportunities to worship. In fact, quiet moments of solitude would take on much more
meaning when seen in this light. Boredom would be replaced with gratitude and
distraction would be replaced with awe.
Affections for God instead of activity would also increase productivity. When
all of life’s activities are filtered through the grid of whether or not it will glorify God,
projects would be chosen more wisely, worked on more diligently, and finished with
more integrity. Private spiritual disciplines would become integral to all of these areas
because one’s work would be directly connected to one’s communion with God. To put it
another way, given the proper affections, man will be able to find God in his work.
This fact alone would raise the standard of excellence in every area of life:
home, work, and leisure. Better than that, it would remove the common split that people
make between what is sacred and what is secular. Proper affections for God in the midst
of every activity would mean that there is no such thing as a “secular” job. All activity
would fall under the Lordship of Christ and would be sought after so that the glory of
God might be experienced in one’s daily activity.
Lastly, placing all of one’s affections in God is the only thing that will give a
person a true sense of happiness. When one places all of his affections in the concept of
activity for activity’s sake, he will find his happiness in things that are fleeting. There is
always one more dollar to earn, one more repair to make, and one more season to watch.
At the moment happiness is felt, one has no time to enjoy it because there is a new race to
32
be run. There is a new rabbit to chase. On and on it goes until the futility of life is finally
realized.
Unlike affections for activity, affections for God place happiness in joy that is
everlasting. Private spiritual disciplines are not seen as obligations to sooth a needy God.
They are seen as springboards to better submerse oneself in the joy of the Lord. Every
activity, regardless of its importance, becomes an opportunity to experience God. Richard
Winter writes, “The test of our spirituality is neither in our best clothes nor in our
religious settings but in our response to the everyday and the unavoidable.” 63 Every
moment, activity, and desire of life, when experienced in the context of one’s affections
for God, can be a source of joy. So, the abundance of activity may never change in the
life of a believer. However, his philosophy of life can be dramatically different. Activity
and commitment may remain unchanged but “the ends” of all activity can be
exhaustively satisfied when they are rooted in love for God.
Ignorance
In the same way that there is a positive element to busyness, there is also an
upside to ignorance. Ignorant people are not incompetent; just unenlightened. Just
because most believers suffer from information overload does not mean that they are
unable to exercise their minds intellectually. The problem does not lie in the believer’s
inability to think; it lies in his lack of desire to think christianly.
So much of the Christian mind is devoted to worldly things. Not all worldly
things are bad or sinful, they are just worldly. They just make one more worldly minded
and less heavenly minded. They put the mind in a state of allegiance to the immediate and
urgent rather than the eternal and essential. The world has created a machine which draws
63
Richard Winter, Still Bored in a Culture of Entertainment: Rediscovering
Passion and Wonder (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2002), 135.
33
men into its hum and distracts them from reality. As author Harry Blamires put it,
“Servitude to the machine is a mark of contemporary worldliness, and as such is a
challenge to the Christian mind.”64 The hum of worldly thinking entices the masses and
thus makes it even more dangerous to the Christian mind.
Therefore, such leanings must be avoided. Dedication to the machine has
catastrophic consequences. It leads to a type of thinking and doing that is oblivious to the
prospect of the eternal. It filters out one’s devotions so that he only thinks about what can
be seen in his immediate surroundings. “To function in a machine is to function sub-
humanly – to act in a preordained, automatic pattern which precludes the exercise of
purpose, creativeness, choice, and reason.” 65 One of the ways in which a person can free
himself from the mechanical thinking of the age, which carelessly devotes itself to the
status quo, is found in the discipline of thinking in a way that is distinctively Christian.
However, this also requires that one properly align his affections.
A Theology of Christian Thinking
The Apostle Paul told the Corinthians to “take every thought captive to obey
Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5) Ignorance, as it is seen in preventing one from practicing
private spiritual disciplines, will be eliminated when one begins to see how his thinking is
directly proportional to his spiritual well being. There is not a split between what one
does and what one thinks. Further, just as activity and busyness can be redeemed by
placing it under the lordship of Christ, one can also learnlove God with the totality of his
mind by thinking thoughts that have been redeemed and informed by Scripture. Author
Gene Veith writes, “Scripture brings all intellectual activity under the Lordship of Christ.
64
Harry Blamires, The Christian Mind: How Should a Christian Think?
65
34
‘Every thought’ – that includes everything from mathematical abstractions to the fantasies
of the imagination – is claimed by Jesus Christ.”66 The Christian mind should always
outthink the unbelieving mind because only the Christian mind thinks from the realm of
ultimate reality. All truth is evaluated by the embodiment of truth, Jesus Christ.
“For the Christian, the mind is important because God is important.”67 It is God
who created everything that can be seen. God made possible the development of science.
He is the one who gave mankind the mind that was needed to understand the
complexities of nature, human relationships, beauty, and philosophy. As Mark Noll
summarizes, “Who, moment by moment, maintains the connections between what is in
our minds and what is in the world beyond our minds? The answer, in every case, is the
same. God did it, and God does it.”68 The mind must be reclaimed but it needs
redemption that is wholistic.
There are no off limit areas for the Christian intellectual. Christianity embraces
all of the complexities that are required for true learning. Again, Noll summarizes,
“Christianity gives a conceptual foundation for creativity, comprehensiveness, and
mystery, so that the pursuit of all truth can be energized by the love of God.”69 So while
ignorance may be a major contributor to the lack of private spiritual disciplines being
exercised by believers, it is not an unsolvable problem. The answer is to encourage
intellectual activity that is rooted in a deep love for God.
66
Gene Edward Veith, Loving God With All Your Mind: How to Survive and
Prosper as a Christian in the Secular University and Post-Christian Culture
(Westchester: Crossway Books, 1987), 88.
67
68
Ibid.
69
Ibid., Pg. 11.
35
It has been said that if one will make learning fun it will increase the number
of people who participate in it. However, if one will make learning a form or worship, not
only will there be a numerical increase, there will be an increase in joy for the persons
who participate in such learning. The command to love God with one’s mind was not
given to weigh one down in his educational pursuits; it was given to increase his joy in
God while loving him with his totality of his intellect.
Implications of Christian Thinking
This spans across every field of learning. Christian thinking encompasses the
arts, the sciences, philosophy, anthropology, linguistics, geography, history, geology,
oceanography, and every other intellectual discipline. Dedication to God and his Word
does not mean disengagement from learning about earthly matters. Rather, dedication to
God, for the Christian mind, will give all types learning a new source of energy and life.
Why? Because the end goal one has for exercising his mind will be in knowing God truly
and experiencing him fully; regardless the intellectual discipline one finds himself
involved in. Thinking Christianly does not replace thinking, nor does it limit the fields of
learning. It makes all learning rich, fruitful, and a source of joy.70
Jonathan Edwards would be a good example of someone who had properly
aligned affections and distinctively Christian thinking. His affections for God not only
influenced his activities but also his thinking.71 Edwards illustrated that if every thought
was weighed with the glory that it brought to God then it would result with a shift in
one’s thinking. Edwards held that nature should not be studied because nature is a good in
70
83.
71
Wainwright gives a detailed explanation of how Edwards balanced the heart
and mind that space will not allow for here. William J. Wainwright, Reason and the
Heart: A Prolegomenon to a Critique of Passional Reason (London: Cornell University
Press, 1995), 53.
36
and of itself. Rather, nature should be studied because it points to a creator who is good in
and of himself. One can derive maximum joy from studying nature if his affections are
directed towards and rooted in God. The location of one’s affections will determine one’s
motivations.
In his hallmark Religious Affections Jonathan Edwards wrote, “We see the
world of mankind to be exceedingly busy and active; and the affections of men are the
springs of the motion.”72 If the Christian’s affections are exercised in such a way that God
is not the fountain head of all that can be known, his pursuits in learning and education
will be severely truncated. The mind will be deprived of seeing God’s glory in creation.
The mind will be blinded from what it was made to search for. As Mark Noll said, “It is
not simply advantageous to love the Lord with the mind; it is also good, sweet, holy,
beautiful, and honoring to God. The last reward to be had from the exercise of a Christian
mind is to know God better, and that reward requires no other justification.”73
Noll also believed that Jonathan Edwards was one who thought in a way that
was distinctively Christian. Noll writes that Edwards “held strenuously to the conviction
that God’s action was the basis for human reaction in every area of life…Edwards’s
theories of knowledge all presupposed the foundational activity of God.”74 Christian’s
with that foundation will be able to properly align their affections and harvest a sound
mind. However, a refusal to think of the world in this way will result in a reversal of the
binaries. And, as it was mentioned earlier, nature will eventually eat up grace.
72
Jonathan Edwards, The Religious Affections (Carlisle: The Banner of Truth
Trust, 1997), 30.
73
74
Ibid.
37
Going further, private spiritual disciplines are crucial in the area of the
intellect. Christian thinking encompasses every field of learning but it is one’s private
spiritual disciplines that take knowledge out of the realm of academia and place it in the
realm of Christian practice. The Christian mind, when harvested correctly, will be very
well informed. It will not be ignorant. The Christian mind will likewise not be
complacent with just possessing knowledge. It will be responsible to act. As Harry
Blamires describes it, “The Christian mind is the prerequisite of Christian thinking. And
Christian thinking is the prerequisite of Christian action.”75
A Wholistic Approach to the Disciplines
Private spiritual disciplines serve as a catalyst to join these two forces. They
battle ignorance on both fronts. Learning becomes dynamic. For example, reading
Scripture makes one a knower truth. As Harry Blamires illustrates, “Secularism asserts
the opinionated self as the only judge of truth. Christianity imposes the given divine
revelation as the final touchstone of truth.”76 So not only is truth known but it is believed
to be trustworthy. As Chesterton wrote, “A man was meant to be doubtful about himself,
but undoubting about the truth”77 Spiritual disciplines help to establish one in the truth so
that he can stand confident in his convictions.
Spiritual disciplines also make one a doer of the truth.78 Christians who have
committed themselves to private spiritual disciplines cannot hide behind the dichotomy
of knowing but not doing. The two are unified. Just as faith without works is dead,
75
76
Ibid., Pg 107.
77
Chesterton, Gilbert K, Orthodoxy, ed. Craig M. Kibler (Lenoir: Reformation
Press, 2002), 56.
78
James 1:22-25
38
orthodoxy without orthopraxy is a wrongheaded way of living out the Christian faith. For
one to live and think as distinctively Christian there must be a unification of the two.
Faith and works go together.
For believers, there is a unity of “knowing-doing, believing-obeying,
orthodoxy-orthopraxy, theory-practice… Christian intellectuals are those whose
intellectual lives are lived to the glory of God. They will do what they claim to know.”79
Thinking Christianly will release one from a state of ignorance and stimulate learning
that positively influences both the mind and the will. However, this is only possible when
one filters all of his thinking through the grid of whether or not his thoughts are
glorifying to God.
What is it that God wants from the mind of man? C.S. Lewis asserts that God
“wants a child’s heart but a grow-up’s head…he wants every bit of intelligence we have
to be alert at its job, and in first-class fighting trim.”80 When one desires to love God with
all of his mind, it requires that he think thoughts that begin and end in God because of an
inward hunger to know him as he truly is. Likewise, a well developed Christian mind will
not only know God truly and richly, but will act accordingly.
This is why a Christian worldview is so essential. When a person learns of the
true character of God his affections will change. His thoughts and attitudes will dwell in a
house that is built on convictions instead of ignorance. Christian thinking becomes the
lens by which one views all of life. To see life from this lens means that one will seek to
“take seriously the sovereignty of God over the world he created, the lordship of Christ
over the world he died to redeem, and the power of the Holy Spirit over the world he
79
James W. Sire, Habits of the Mind: Intellectual Life as a Christian Calling
(Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2000), 105.
80
77.
39
sustains each and every moment.”81 This type of thinking will then equip one to fight
against the next area of hindrance: sin and guilt.
Sin and Guilt
Sin and guilt, which seem to be most desperate of the all the categories that
have been presented so far, have a positive element to them only because of the merciful
nature of God. As Dr. Henry Brant points out, “The bad news is, there is no human
remedy for sin. The good news is, repentance for sin before God brings instant
cleansing.”82 Christians who struggle with sin or suffer from guilt are not eternally bound
by the chains which bind them. Those chains have been broken by the power of Christ
through forgiveness.
However, for one to experience the joy of this forgiveness he must slay his sin
and guilt with the sword of confession. There is no room for rationalizations, excuses, or
man-centered justifications for one’s sin. Redefining sin will not remove the
consequences of its permeating effect. The solution to sin is found in God’s grace and
forgiveness. And, to receive that grace and forgiveness, there must be confession.
“Confession enables one to come out from underneath the shadow of his sin and walk
freely into the marvelous light of God where all things are made new.”83 It is a beautiful
and liberating concept but it is still one of the most ignored practices in the lives of
believers today.
81
82
83
Andy Stanley, It Came From Within: The Shocking Truth of What Lurks In
the Heart (Sisters: Multnomah Publishers, 2006), 126.
40
The words of the apostle John ring as true today just as they did when he first
wrote them. “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If
we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.” (1 John1:8-9) The apostle John knew that sin was a major factor in
preventing one from growing in grace and that the only hope for deliverance was through
confession. Confession is what it takes to make deep fellowship possible. Confession
alone will free one from the prison of sin. It is a promise from God and one that should be
claimed daily.
However, confession is uncomfortable because it means, first, coming to terms
with one’s sin and, second, losing one’s sense of self-righteousness and pride. C.S. Lewis
describes the process well when he says that “before we can be cured we must want to be
cured. Those who really wish for help will get it; but for many modern people even the
wish is difficult.”84 This is all a result of how one views God. Can one cling to his own
righteousness and measure up to the divine standard? If not, there must be confession.
Confession, in the context of stimulating private spiritual disciplines, works on
two levels. Confession should be offered both to God and to other people. Both are
biblically necessary. Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, said that being reconciled to a
brother takes precedence over bringing one’s gift to the altar.85 Author Richard Foster
writes, “The discipline of confession brings an end to pretense. God is calling into being
a Church that can openly confess its frail humanity and know the forgiving and
empowering graces of Christ.”86

84
99.
85
Matthew 5:21-26
86
Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline (San Francisco: Harper and Row,
1988), 157.
41
Why is it that Christians ludicrously avoid the practice of confession? Why do
people of faith resist the very thing that will release them from the prison of sin and guilt?
Any excuse, when placed under the light of the cross, is unsatisfactory. The positive
implications of confession are far too reaching to dismiss as undesirable. Just because the
practice of confession might serve as an insult to one’s pride in no way grants that one
should resist the free grace of God. One must relocate his affections. He must care less
about himself and more about his maker: less about his independence and more about his
need for a Savior.
Implications of Confession
Confession is extremely liberating for the Christian. Confession overcomes
relational barriers, releases one from the feeling of condemnation and guilt, and prevents
pride from ruining one’s fellowship with God. The discipline of confession, though
distasteful to our pride, is necessary. To the extent that God knows about one’s sins, that
person, too, needs to acknowledge. God knows every sin that one has ever committed:
past, present, and future. Thus, for the Christian, anything less than full disclosure is less
than full release.87
The thirty-second Psalm is a perfect picture of this. It opens with images that
describe the disparity felt over unconfessed sin to God. “For when I kept silent, my bones
wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy
upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.”88 This an accurate picture
of what guilt does to one’s soul. However, the Psalmist, after meditating on the
forgiveness available in confession, writes these words, “let everyone who is godly offer
87
J.I. Packer, Growing in Christ (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1994), 192.
88
Psalm 32:3-4
42
prayer to you at a time when you may be found… You are a hiding place for me; you
preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance.”89
King David understood the joy that was available to the person who
maintained a clear conscience before God. He wisely chose the liberty of confession over
the prison of shame. So, while sin and guilt may be the most influential factors in
preventing one from practicing private spiritual disciplines, hope is not lost. Confession
propels one into the joy of experiencing the forgiveness of a merciful God. Just as the law
of aerodynamics overcomes the law of gravity, so the bondage of sin can be overcome by
experiencing freedom in Christ.90
As the Apostle Paul stated in his well known letter to the church at Rome,
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law
of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”
(Romans 8:1-2) Christ has accomplished what was impossible for man. He then imputed
his righteousness to those who believe in him by faith. One’s sins are washed away and
he stands clothed in Christ’s righteousness. One’s identity, if they are a Christian, is found
in the person of Jesus Christ. Again the words of Paul are appropriate as he told the
Galatians “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who
lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20)
A failure to exercise confession and receive forgiveness is fundamentally an
inaccurate view of self. It is similar to the inaccurate view that was described concerning
sin. In essence, for a Christian to not avail himself to the grace available in Christ is to
suffer from a severe identity crisis. Unlike Paul, a Christian who does not see himself
89
Psalm 32:6-7
90
43
clothed in the righteousness of Christ views himself wrongly. Likewise, a Christian who
does not live as though it is Christ living through him, lives antithetical to his new nature.
A denial of Christ is a denial of truth. It is moral relativism on a different playground.
Writing on this connection Dennis McCallum submits that to deny the truth available in
Christ it is the ultimate loss of self.
Compelled to act without a foundation in truth, we are put in a position of not really
knowing why we do what we do, or why we believe what we believe. It’s all a
matter of where and with whom we happen to be at the moment. Consequently, we
lose a sense of who we are – we lose a sense of identity – in a world of equally valid
but dissonant alternatives.91
The loss of self-identity is frightening for any culture. It is most frightening for
the Christian community. For a Christian to not identify himself with the person of Christ
is the saddest form of hypocrisy. Paul warned Timothy of such people saying they would
be men “having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power… always learning
and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.” (2nd Timothy 3:5-7) Relativism is
not a new problem, but it is still a problem. The loss of truth is the redefining of sin. The
redefinition of sin is the marginalization of confession. For the Christian, especially for
the sake of private spiritual disciplines, this must be avoided by loving the truth,
identifying with Christ, and being faithful in the practice of confession.
Conclusion
The ability for one to exercise private spiritual disciplines is readily available
to each and every believer. No person is too busy, nor are they incompetent. No guilt can
withstand the embrace of a loving heavenly Father. No sin can separate one from the
reconciliation that was made available in Christ for those who believe in him. All that is
needed is a fundamental shift in the way one thinks about God and the world. It requires a
91
Dennis McCallum, The Death of Truth (Minneapolis: Bethany House
44
shift in how one views progress. It means viewing progress as drawing nearer to the place
one needs to be. As C.S. Lewis reminds his readers, “If you are on the wrong road,
progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case
the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man.”92
Progress should be evaluated by the level of worship one can experience in his
achievement, not the amount of material gain or worldly pleasure. Decisions should be
made and thinking should be weighed with the glory that it brings to God, not with how
much diversion it creates in the mind of the thinker. Sin should be hated with the same
intensity that God hates sin. It should not be redefined and reestablished so as to confine
with complacent Christianity.
All of these things require fundamental changes in one’s worldview. The
Christian must exist in an environment where he submits every area of his life to the
lordship of Christ and views each and every moment as an opportunity to enjoy God.
Whatever one does should be done for the glory of God. All of life begins and ends in
God. As Calvin so eloquently stated,
We must be convinced not only that he created the world, sustains it by his
boundless power, governs it by his wisdom, keeps it going by his goodness, rules
the human race with justice, puts up with it in his love and shields it with his
protections, but also that there is not an atom of light, wisdom or justice, power,
integrity or truth to be found anywhere but flowing from him and generated by him.
Obviously, then, we must learn to expect everything from him and ask for it,
gratefully acknowledging him as the giver of all we receive. This awareness of
divine perfection is the best way to learn piety from which true religion springs.93
True piety is known and realized in the life of a Christian when he has an
accurate understanding of God; when his view of God has transformed his heart, soul,
92
28.
93
Calvin, John, The Institutes of Christian Religion, ed. Tony Lane and Hilary
Osborne (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1987), 25.
45
and mind. Private spiritual disciplines will be exercised correctly when they are seen as
indispensible for Christian living. They will deeply root one in the joy of communing
with God. With those roots in place, leisure will be found in the midst of life’s busiest
moments, knowledge of God will be pursued in every field of education, and the practice
of confession will be welcomed, not avoided.
So, how does one go about obtaining such a worldview? Such an answer
deserves no new insight. The words of the wise King Solomon will suffice. “Fear God
and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”(Ecclesiastes 12:13) May
every Christian change their thinking and doing to a paradigm that sees God as the
supreme source of joy, the object of every affection, the reason for every activity, the
author of every learned truth, the forgiver of all sin, and the ultimate end to all of life.
46
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MISPLACED AFFECTIONS:

THE NATURE OF A SPIRITUALLY UNDISCIPLINED LIFE

The Senior Thesis

Dr. David P. Bertch

The College at Southwestern

of the Requirements for IDE 4203-A

April 16, 2009

affects believers in regard to their spiritual vitality.

gives a general summary of the problem.

private spiritual disciplines

Section three proposes a general solution by introducing the theme of

realigning one’s affections

Wes Terry B.A.

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2009

person does. Orthodoxy always precedes orthopraxy.

If knowledge of God comes by revelation and the expression of one’s heart to

it so hard to practice private spiritual disciplines? Why do believers sometimes feel as

There is not an exhaustive or standardized list of spiritual disciplines, although

down into two categories: corporate and private.

Private spiritual disciplines grow one in grace and knowledge, but on a

speech, it is all together absent in their hearts.

Explaining the Conditions

robotic in the process of sanctification. He is morally accountable and one hundred

percent responsible. Consider this quote from author Jerry Bridges,

private spiritual disciplines.

Busyness is a primary factor in preventing a person from exercising private

Alexis de Tocqueville wrote, “[American’s] occupations interest them passionately. They

they are doing what they are doing.

Harry Blamires asserts that “men can be so engrossed in performing functions in

human.”8 Thus, much of humanity, because of its full-fledged dedication to activity, is

living at a sub-human level.

one’s exercising of private spiritual disciplines.

reality. This should be an issue of concern for any believer.

only through the “kind of rationality that is technology-like.”12

retreat into the detriment of diversion.

The Detriment of Diversion

Excessive television usage, or any other form of escapism, is a gateway into

the very thing we complain about.” 14 In the words of Pascal,

the detriment of diversion?

kind of activities one participates in and why one chooses to do so.

Many of the activities in life request the whole of a person as if to insinuate a

experience life as God has created one to experience it.

lifestyle activities of born-again Christians were statistically equivalent to those of non-

ability to exercise private spiritual disciplines.

with these words:

So busyness battles against the practice of private spiritual disciplines on both

why Christians fail to practice private spiritual disciplines.

Another contributor to why Christians find it hard to exercise private spiritual

them would be lacking as well. The problem of ignorance is really a manifestation of

brought about from within.

Again, de Tocqueville made a startling connection when he wrote, “Life there

experience or pleasure. According to J.P. Moreland, “the contemporary Christian mind is

complex than what one may think.

regard to how beneficial it is to one’s experience.27 The problem of ignorance is

accessing theavailable information.

A lack of resources is not the issue. There is a wealth of information

light on how serious it really is.

The Christian Mind Under Attack

The problem of ignorance is closely connected to the problem of busyness. The

to be conversant with an overwhelming amount of information because they have

committed themselves to a tremendous amount of activity. While commitment to activity

and, eventually, this paradigm shift will lead to despair.

Christ and weakens the mind.

battleground and should be recognized as such.