The Ways of the Heart
Frank Allnutt

Section 11:
The Ways of the Whole-Hearted Christian

Walking in the Spirit
Though the Whole-Hearted Christian might occasionally stumble, he quickly recovers by setting his heart right with God, resuming his walk in the Spirit, and demonstrating loving obedience from his heart. This reunification and restoration process is a part of our spiritual growth. We set our hearts right with God when we functionally and behaviorally:

1. put on the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 13:14);
   
   
2. set our heart and mind on things above (Colossians 3:1, 2, NIV);
   
   
3. lay aside the old self and put on the new self (Ephesians 4:22-24);
   
   
4. put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience (Colossians 3:12);
   
   
5. act out of our love for Him, others, and ourselves (Figure 11-3); and,
   
   
6. repent of our sins and confess them to Him (Figure 11-4).
   
   
   
   

Figure 11-3: The Greatest Commandments: Fulfilled Promises of God

If you are a Christian, God has fulfilled His promise to give you a new heart, the enabling indwelling His Spirit, and a "new spirit" of love, so that you will be empowered—and can be motivated—to (A) more deeply experience His love for you, (B) to love Him with all your heart, and, (C) to love others as (D) you are to love yourself.
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Figure 11-4: Those who walk in the Spirit are whole-hearted

The changing heart of the Whole-Hearted Christian is undergoing the process of progressive sanctification—being functionally conformed to the holiness of Christ. He walks in the Spirit and experiences the dynamics of love, repentance, confession, cleansing, filling, healing, and renewal.
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Spirit-activated love
When the heart is united, the Holy Spirit can then minister the dynamics of God’s love in and through our soul (Figure 11-5) by:

1. filling our soul with His gifts of truth and love (in their many forms of expression) (Romans 5:5; 1 Corinthians 13);
   
   
2. cleansing our soul of certain sin-debt (1 John 1:8, 9);
   
   
3. renewing our mind through truth (Romans 12:2);
   
   
4. healing our damaged emotions through the above, coupled with His peace (John 14:27; Galatians 5:22), joy (John 15:11; Galatians 5:22), and other emotional traits;
   
   
5. directing the will of our hearts into the steadfast (resolute) likeness of Christ (2 Thessalonians 3:5); and,
   
   
6. bearing fruit for God. Jesus said: “By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love” (John 15:8-10).

In this way, our souls are constantly being “restored” (Psalm 23:3), and we experience the love-based fellowship that Jesus speaks of in the above passage of Scripture. This is whole-hearted living, and when we live this way, we experience the reality of Christ living His life in us and through us, and our living in Him and in His sufficiency. And this will prove that the commandments and promises of Jesus are fulfilled through our wholeheartedness: “‘And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:30,31).

Figure 11-5: The Whole-Hearted Christian is filled with the fruit of the Spirit, and is moved and led by the Spirit
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Figure 11-6: The Greatest Commandments are fulfilled through the ways of the Whole-Hearted Christian

Now, let's take a closer look at what Jesus meant by the Greatest Commandment.

We'll begin with an illustration that depicts the whole or united heart of a Christian.

Jesus said we shall love God with all our heart
To love God with all our heart is to love Him with our whole heart—with the Holy Spirit (dove) expressing love through the individual's Christ-centered personhood and functionally united soul and spirit.

Now, let's focus on the soul chamber-part of the whole heart:

Jesus said we shall love God with all our soul
To love God with all our soul is to love Him with all our soul’s faculties (mind, emotion, will) and features (memory, belief, conscience, “New Spirit” of love, personality, character, temperament) operating in harmony with one another and with the indwelling Spirit of Christ. Since the soul is that part of the heart through which we (our unique personhood) expresses ourselves through our body and relates to the temporal realm, our love for God is expressed to Him and demonstrated through our loving conduct toward Him and others.

Jesus said we shall love God with all our mind
To love God with all our mind is to love Him as the foremost object of our mind set and with all our rationality. For we love whatever we set our mind to love. If our mind is set on self aside from God, we become self-centered and self-loving in a fleshly way. If our mind is set on things of the world, we will love the things of the world. But if our mind is set on Christ, it will be centered in Him and He will be the first object of our love and the foremost desire of our heart.

Jesus said we shall love God with all our strength
To love God with all our strength is to love Him with all the strength available to us when we inwardly function and outwardly walk in the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13; Colossians 2:6, 9; 1 Peter 4:8-11), in the light (1 John 1:7), in newness of life (Romans 6:4), in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16; Ephesians 3:16), by faith (2 Corinthians 5:7), in wisdom (Colossians 4:5), in obedience (2 John 6), and in truth (3 John 4), and in love (Ephesians 5:2). Paul writes: “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7, NIV); and that “The love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Romans 5:5b).
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A Changed Heart

A changed heart (along with a new body) is the consummation of our new creation which will be realized when Christ returns for us and transforms us into glory. At that nearing time, sin will be no more, because Christ’s love will be perfected in us. And where there is absolute love, there is absolutely no sin.

As we conclude this study, an incident comes to mind. Years ago I happened to tune into a church service on television. I was not familiar with the church or its pastor. He was a hellfire and brimstones preacher whose Bible thumping admonitions and exhortations frequently brought members of the congregation to their feet, waving their arms, and responding with “amens,” “hallelujahs,” and “You tell ‘em, preacher!” But that is not what caught my attention and caused me to stay tuned—nor was it the topic of his sermon (I don’t recall that he stuck to any particular topic). What struck me was that several times he pointed to individuals in the pews and shouted out, “Do you love my Jesus?” Each person answered with a joyful, heartfelt “yes,” and the congregation just went wild. I pray that this brief study will help you to:

1. deepen your knowing Jesus and His love for you;
   
   
2. deepen your love (agape) for Jesus by loving Him wholeheartedly—with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength;
   
   
3. deepen your love (agape) for your neighbors (other Christians) ; and, deepen your love (agape) for yourself.
   

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