I am reading Discipline: The Glad Surrender by Elisabeth Elliot right now, a book about Christian discipline, that is, discipleship. The book is great--found it for 49 cents at a Christian thrift store. You know it's a Christian thrift store when there is a "Prayer Corner" in the store, and the book section is basically all books on Christian prayer and discipleship. Anyways, reading a book on Christian formation reminds me that my mind still needs exercise and formation, and for me, that formation comes from reading books, particularly, Elisabeth Elliot books--she pulls no punches. Honest and eloquent to a fault when it comes to sharing the word of God.
A few days ago, while developing Campus Outreach Academy material, I was recalling Descartes and the Cartesian split. The gist of this theory: our minds and bodies function separately from one another. I first heard of this notion in a university course. Today, apparently, I am still unravelling what I was taught to be true during my college years because in the past several days I've been struck by the falsity yet the impact that this theory has had on my mind and heart (and thus my body--my actions), and lifestyle, as well as our world today, particularly Western civilization.
When do I--we--assent to this theory in our thoughts and lifestyles? When we do not think that, for example, getting enough sleep will affect our minds and hearts; when we do not think that, as Elliot reminds her readers in a chapter entitled "Discipline of the Mind," the discipline of one's body has a profound correlation with the discipline of the heart and soul, our emotions and thoughts.
I was reading the Detroit Summer Outreach monthly update letter a few days ago: people's lives continue to be changed by the rigor of DSO life--the everyday rigor is the gateway to spiritual riches and a renewed heart for the Lord. DSO is a glorious reminder from Him that He is faithful and that He has made us to give our entire lives to Him, and that this giving takes place through our thoughts, emotions, and actions, the whole package.
God tells His people time and again that He made them with a mind, body, and heart and that all of the aforementioned were created to work in unity. He gives us the Greatest Commandment: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength" (Deuteronomy 6: 4-5). Just as the Lord our God is "one," so we, too are "one." We have been made to reflect His one-ness, and we do when we work to live a consistent life.
But we need to allow ourselves to be disciplined--discipled--by Him. Another example: UCO Summer Household is a rigorous program. The every day, practical commitments help to yield spiritual fruit in the participants' lives because what we do and say has an impact on our thoughts and hearts. Another example would be an athlete; the training of the body has an impact on the formation of the mind and heart.
Yet it is not enough to believe that the Cartesian split is a load of bologna. People who do not believe in this theory still do things oftentimes that do not align what they have professed to believe or think. Added to which, people often think or feel something bad and then act on that thought or feeling--that is a unity of mind and action, but it is not righteous. And righteousness matters.
It's our fallenness that we need to surrender to the Lord. I am a sinner, made of flesh and Spirit; that is the primary reason why my thoughts and actions often run contrary to one another. I need the grace of the Holy Spirit, not myself or a better coach or teacher or the right theory, in order to help me "live in a manner worthy of the call [I] have received" (Ephesians 4). I need God's help if I am to ever be unified in my mind and actions, and not just unified, but conformed to the mind and actions of Jesus Christ. Amen.
