Booklet, adapted from Advanced Study No. 2: The Ways of the Heart

The Whole-Hearted Christian

Frank Allnutt

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Part 5: “Well-adjusted” and “maladjusted” flesh

Some Half-Hearted Christians are more successful than others in meeting their needs and desires through fleshly and worldly ways. Yet, the two have this in common: Their self-centered and divided hearts can never seem to attain quite enough knowledge, understanding, and wisdom; the emotion can never quite reach and maintain a consistent level of contentment and happiness; the will can never fully satisfy its insatiable, lustful desires; and the individual’s creativity and achievements never consistently seem to measure up to his and others’ expectations. And so they attempt to overcome such deficiencies through fleshly and worldly ways.

Psychology developed the concepts of the “well-adjusted” and “maladjusted” persons. The well-adjusted person fares well in the world and generally meets society’s expectations of a good citizen. Some maladjusted people struggle for acceptance and success; others may become reclusive or even antisocial.

Some Christian counselors use the descriptions “well-adjusted” and “maladjusted” types of fleshliness. According to this model, people who are more successful at fulfilling their needs and desires through fleshly ways are said to have “well-adjusted flesh,” “positively conditioned flesh,” or “positively programmed flesh.” They are said to have experienced little trauma and have received general acceptance in life. Those who fail are said to have “maladjusted flesh,” “negatively conditioned flesh,” or “negatively programmed flesh.” And they are said to have experienced serious trauma and considerable rejection in life.

Let it be clearly understood, however, that Christians are no longer “in the flesh” but are “in the Spirit.” They do not “have” flesh—evil-principled human nature—but have the love-principled nature of Christ. So when a believer is referred to as having “flesh,” understand that it is fleshliness or flesh-like condition and function of the heart.

There is some correlation of meaning between “positive flesh” and the biblical description of “fat-hearted,” and between “negative flesh” and the biblical description of “broken-hearted.” However, there are also differences.

Some fleshly Christians engage in various forms of self-improvement or behavior modification (sometimes called “flesh management”) in which they attempt, through fleshly and worldly ways, to overcome their “negative programming” and attain more “positive programming.” This is to say they strive to move from negative halfheartedness to positive halfheartedness.

“Positive” in this sense should be clearly understood. Things “positive” are usually considered to be the acceptable norm, but not so in the case of “positive flesh.” Positive and negative fleshliness are both unacceptable and displeasing to God. Whether a Half-Hearted Christian has positive fleshly symptoms or negative ones, he walks the wrong path—in the ways of the flesh, or “according to the flesh”—and certainly does not walk in the Spirit.

Figure 9: The Fruit of the Broken-Hearted Christian

All Half-Hearted Christians produce “fruit for death,” with some variation of fruit among the various types of half-heartedness. We can see some of these distinctions through comparison. Perhaps the most apparent contrasts are between the Broken-Hearted Christian and the Fat-Hearted Christian.

Whether the Half-Hearted Christian’s behavior and life-style are obviously sinful or appear to be “religious,” “moral,” and “righteous,” his heart is not right with God; he walks according to the flesh, is out of fellowship with God, and all of his apparent “good works” or manifest works are “fruit for death” (Romans 7:5), which is unacceptable to God. Isaiah writes in graphic language that “All our righteous acts [manifest works, independent of God] are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6)—that is, as lifeless and worthless as the discharge on a menstrual cloth.

All of us have experienced a “broken heart”—disappointment, sorrow, loss, etc. That does not necessarily make us Broken-Hearted Christians. A Broken-Hearted Christian is one who consistently responds out of a divided heart to negative circumstances in life, in fleshly, Satan-like, sinful, worldly, legalistic or lawless ways.

The Broken-Hearted Christian has experienced trauma, rejection, failure, pain, suffering, sadness, and loss. Nothing he does, as hard as he tries, seems to help. And it seems to him that God does not hear his prayers or does not care about his plight.

Some of the possible effects of the Broken-Hearted Christian’s way of living are indicated in Figure 10. The sin-motivated and fleshly condition of his broken heart contaminate his soul with fleshly, Satan-like, sinful, worldly, legalistic or lawless thoughts, feelings, desires and plans. His behavior may be outright sinful or fleshly attempts to live righteously. But righteousness rooted in the flesh is counterfeit righteousness. This believer’s “fruit” or accomplishments are not love-gifts for God, but sin-debt (defilement or consequences of actual sin) that further divide his heart and strain his fellowship with the indwelling Spirit of Christ.

This believer has been subjected to many lies, deceptions, and fantasies. His memories—and the lies and fantasies associated with them—are like a cancer in his soul that attacks his mind, emotion, and will, and thwarts their proper functioning. He has distorted concepts of God, self, others, the world in which he lives, and meaning and purpose in life. He may seek to know: “Who am I?” “Why am I here?” “What does the future hold for me?” “Where is God in the middle of my messed-up life and this rotten world?” Emotionally, he may experience self-depreciating feelings of guilt, anxiety, fear, shame, rejection, humiliation, and depression. He quite often sees himself as a failure, worthless, incompetent, and insignificant. In his will, he may harbor desires and intentions that are lustful and perverse. He may blame God for treating him unfairly. And all of this leaves him feeling frustrated, confused, rejected, hopeless, helpless, unloved, and used.

The Broken-Hearted Christian has little trust in God. He chooses to depend on the flesh and the world in getting his needs and desires met. And when such dependency proves to be mostly unsuccessful, he resorts to methods of escapism or coping in order to protect self.

Escape methods might include denial of reality, rejection of the truth of God’s Word, extreme depression out of pain, suffering, loss, self-pity, cover-up, and any number of addictions.

To cope is to attempt to ride out the storm of negative circumstances through one’s own limited strength and resources. Coping or defense mechanisms compile a list without end. The coper may be codependent and overly submissive to control, manipulation, intimidation, and exploitation by others. He may resort to employing some of those methods himself, along with lying, cheating, stealing, seduction, people-pleasing, temper tantrums, self-pity, escapism, and withdrawal. Some copers may seek outside strength, solace, and pleasure through sinful and harmful behavior such as substance abuse, illicit sex, gluttony, gambling, and death-defying extremist activities.

Such believers often try to cover-up their shortcomings by attempting to convey the opposite of what is truly going on in their hearts and lives. They may be outspoken against the very addictions or fleshly patterns of functioning and behavior that hold them in conditional bondage. For example, a person who chronically lies may display open contempt toward others who lie, and this in an effort to deceive others into believing that, since he hates lying so much, he surely would not lie himself.

When fleshly coping mechanisms eventually prove to be unsuccessful, a believer might simply give up trying. At the depth of brokenness, he loses all hope in himself, his fellow man, and even in God. It is not uncommon for him to think about suicide. Tragically, he does not understand that his “old man” has already died and that he is a new-hearted, new creature who is free and victorious in Christ.

Figure 10: The Fruit of the Fat-Hearted Christian

Fat-Hearted Christians may be successful achievers in the worldly view. They may believe God has rewarded them because they are superior to others, that their works are especially pleasing to God, and that they have higher standing with God. But those are deceptions. God loves all of His children unconditionally and equally, though He disdains fleshly living. Fat-Hearted Christians function out of a fleshly, divided heart, and walk according to the flesh and in the ways of Satan, sin, the world order, legalism or lawlessness. God regards the achievements of their fleshly living as “fruit for death” (Romans 7:5).

In contrast to the Broken-Hearted Christian, the Fat-Hearted Christian’s life experiences have been mostly positive, with relatively few and insignificant rejections and soulical trauma. His life and memories are mostly pleasant, and so he is comfortable in his self-sufficiency and fleshly manner of living. However, he lives a lie—that his apparently successful way of living must be the “right” way, and even God’s will for him.

As Figure 10 illustrates, the Fat-Hearted Christian experiences mostly “positive” fleshly dysfunctionality in his spiritual heart. Intellectually, he has distorted concepts of God, self, others, and the world around him. Emotionally, he is generally content, comfortable, secure, self-assured, confident, and competent. Because of his apparent success, he may have prideful and exaggerated feelings of self-strength, self-significance, self-righteousness, and self-worthiness. And he believes most people have the same high regard for him that he has for himself. In his will, he may harbor desires and intentions that are lustful and perverse.

The Fat-Hearted Christian’s methods for protecting self and getting ahead bear many similarities to the coping mechanisms of the Broken-Hearted Christian, and may include control, manipulation, intimidation, aggression, assertion, bribery, extortion, lying, cheating, stealing, and so on.

Such sins create “debt” within the soul, and at some point even the Fat-Hearted Christian will begin to experience their negative effects. It can become so intense that he experiences reactions similar to the Broken-Hearted Christian—guilt, shame, anxiety, depression, fear, and so on. For example, the Broken-Hearted Christian may experience anxiety over his inability to accumulate wealth (which he believes threatens his freedom and security). On the other hand, the Fat-Hearted Christian may experience anxiety over never having as much wealth as he desires, or over the prospect of possibly losing what he has.

It is both ironic and tragic that many Broken-Hearted Christians strive to become like Fat-Hearted Christians. And the so-called “prosperity gospel” preached in some churches is designed to motivate and teach them how to do it.

Half-Hearted Christians of all types may develop psychosomatic health problems—and may even die from their effects. Paul writes that because such people do not rightly examine their spiritual hearts and do not allow the Holy Spirit to intervene and to heal, “many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep [have died physically]” (1 Corinthians 11:29, 30).

And so the many lies, deceptions, and fantasies stored in the memory of the Half-Hearted Christian holds him in conditional and functional bondage (but not in positional, relational, or ontological bondage). He is robbed of his freedom and victory, joy and peace, and other forms of grace and fruitfulness that can only be realized through whole-hearted living—experiencing the abundant life in Christ.