container for God Himself
Passion for heart-character growth comes from that burning desire for God Himself, and from knowing what His primary purpose for building heart-character is: to give us more of Himself. Often in the church we use others terms for character growth like “growing in Christ-likeness” and “sanctification.” I think these terms, however, evoke a sense trying to attain something we’re not, but ought to be. It can border on a mentality that God’s love for us is dependent on how moral or immoral we are. We realize God loves us, but think that if we grow and mature, He will love us more. The famous tag line from Philip Yancey’s book What’s So Amazing About Grace? is that “There is nothing you can do to make God close the door, and there is nothing you can do to make God love you more.” As we focus on the centrality of God’s grace, we can be passionate about heart-character growth while not trying to reach a deeper relationship with God by our own efforts. Rather, we are submitting to his purpose for us and His desire to bless us with more of Himself.
What is character and what is character growth?
The concept of character and character growth is one of the least understood ideas in effective Christian living. It is the least understood because it has incredible depth. It is very easy to make the idea of character complex because of this depth. So let’s keep it simple as I use the term heart-character: heart-character is your capacity to know and understand God. Heart-character growth is the increase in this capacity. To be passionate about heart-character, you have to be passionate of wanting more of God in your life – for God to pour out the Holy Spirit into you. Heart-character growth is not something we do, but something that God does. Paul writes, “One waters, the other sows, but it’s God that makes the plant grow.”
Heart-character is the capacity to know and understand God
Heart-character growth is the increase in this capacity
I first came to understand that love needs to fit in the proper container to grow when I am courting my girlfriend. Sophomore year of college, we professed we have feelings for each other, but wait to pursue we were still waiting to pursue a romantic relationship as boyfriend and girlfriend. For several good reasons, we decide that although we like each other, it’s not a good time for either one of us to begin dating. We spend most of the year, hundreds or thousands of miles apart as our internships and foreign study programs prevent us from being in the same area for almost a year. During this year, our friendship blossoms and deepens further. We write to each other long e-mails about the everyday events and trials of our lives pursuing a pure and deep friendship. The summer before our senior year, we are finally able to spend some time together. We make the two hour commute from New York to New Jersey once a week, to see each other. During that summer, as romantic feelings continued to blossom, we could tell that we were more than friends to each other – but then what were we?
It is like our love for one another is overflowing this container of friendship. In fact, it is actually causing our container to be stretch at the seams as it is growing. As the nature of our relationship changes, we sense that our feelings for one another has the potential to damage our friendship. I sense that God is directing us, that we need a new container to hold the nature of our love for one another.
As I am praying about our relationship and when or if we should become a couple, I receive an interesting word picture. The word picture comes from a parable that Jesus told:
“And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.” (Luke 5:37-38)
Jesus uses the analogy of wineskins when he speaks about his teaching. Back in his time, wine was stored in leather wineskins. As new wine aged, it would expand and stretch the wineskin. If you tried to put the new wine into an old wine skin that had already been stretched, the new wine would burst and damage that old wine skin as it expanded. Our love for one another had grown and God wanted to pour a new wine into our relationship, but we needed a new wine skin or container – a new definition of our relationship – from “friends” to “boyfriend and girlfriend” to hold that outpouring.
After fifteen months of dating and tons of confirmation from God, I receive the same word picture when I decide to propose. “Boyfriend and girlfriend” or “courtship” is not strong enough of a container to hold our love for one another. Our love has grown and matured, and it can no longer fit into the container of courtship; God desired more for our relationship – from courtship to engaged, and now to marriage. As the definitions changed, so did our containers, each having a greater ability to hold or define our relationship.
The analogy represents how our heart-character is like our ability and capacity to know and understand God. He enlarges the size and strength of our heart-character, that we might hold more of Him. God works by mending the wounded parts of our heart-character, and even gives us new hearts. Through the prophet Ezekiel God says, “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.” I think when we are young Christians, we may have a thimble-sized heart, but God fills that thimble to the brim, and even overflowing. We are filled with the most delightful joy at God’s graciousness in our lives. Our lives feel full of God (and indeed are), and we’re happy!
God then enlarges and strengthens the size of our heart-character, and as our container stretches, that same amount of liquid in our now shot-glass-size heart seems small, because our cup is not even half full. Don’t be discouraged, but seek more of God. As we pursue Him, He is faithful to answer. When God finishes with the work of building up your heart-character for that seasons, He pours out his love for us, to the brim and overflowing. This is a process as God is ever desiring to pour out more of Himself on us, giving us a larger glass. God is passionate about strengthening and enlarging our heart-character. What makes these seasons when we experience trials, and suffering, or dryness more bearable is when we become passionate about heart-character for ourselves. This only comes from a passion to have God as our portion. How else can we feel joy in the face of difficulties and trials if we do not more intimacy with God in our lives.
Some of you are going through a tough season, but God loves you so much during this time. He is not through with you yet, and his purpose is not to harm you, not to make you jump through hoops, or make you more acceptable to him. He accepts you just as you are. No, his purpose, his desire, his passion is to give you more of Himself. I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t just want a bucket-size heart, not just one the size of a bathtub – no, but I have my sights on having an ocean-liner of a heart so that I could hold onto more and experience more of God’s goodness – God Himself. God desires for us to know that we are His Portion first, and that all he wants is us. He doesn’t want service or praise. He’s after our hearts.
The process of growing in heart-character can be a painful and trying one. Therefore, a passion for God Himself is necessary to bear the difficulty and anguish of character growth. However, it is God that is changing our heart-character in his timing and as much as we can bear. No matter what the current condition of our hear-character, the process of character growth and restoration belongs to God – it’s the work of the Holy Spirit and not our own efforts. It is God who works in us to prepare to receive the outpouring of God Himself into us.
There is a process of heart-character growth that is revealed in Romans 5. Starting with hope in the glory of God, we experience suffering, which leads to perseverance, and perseverance leads to heart-character. In between the suffering and heart-character is perseverance. The action of perseverance is the process that leads to heart-character growth.
Observation - Have you come across the idea of character being our capacity to hold God before?
Understanding - What is the condition of your heart to receive more of God Himself?
Application - Is there anything that you need to repent for? Do it.
