You may have a destructive or shameful pattern of behavior that you know is unhealthy and needs to change. You want to change, you pray it will change, but the pattern continues unbroken. You keep reverting to the old pattern of behavior and feel defeated.
If we are new creations in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17), why is the old sin habit still hanging around? How do we access life change?
Rob Reimer (in his book Soul Care) explains that these patterns involve issues with our souls. Soul issues prevent us from intimacy with God and others. They keep us from drawing near to God. Our unconfessed, unprocessed, and undealt with issues also hinder us from experiencing the fullness of God. They fill up the container of our soul, so we don’t have any more capacity for God.
Reimer goes on to say that sometimes we don’t experience the new life Jesus promises because we focus on symptoms and not the disease itself. We focus on behavior management or sin management. For example, imagine someone struggling with an addiction. Most often, the addiction is just a symptom, not a real disease.
Jesus taught that the root issues of our sinful words and actions lie in the heart (Matthew 12:34-35; 15:18-20). It is out of the overflow of the heart that the mouth speaks and the person acts.
In gardening, if the soil is rocky, hard, weedy, too dry, or too wet, the crops won’t grow. If the right conditions are cultivated, the plants will produce a harvest in time. It’s also true with life change. The right atmosphere allows life change to occur over time.
One of the essential conditions needed to create an environment where fruitful life change can result is true community. Life change occurs where people live open, honest, and confessional lives in a culture of grace without hiding or pretending.
Secrets are toxic to the wellbeing of the soul. Church leaders must create a grace-filled atmosphere where people can confess their sins for healing by the Spirit. We must be vulnerable to our own shortcomings. Only light can set us free from darkness. Even if this is not part of your current church family, you can create a small group of people who live this way with you.
So, gather a small group of comrades in arms, read and process together, open your souls to one another, and access the presence and power of God together. Let’s journey together into the freedom and fullness of Christ!
