Do your actions align with the convictions in your heart and mind? Do you walk your talk? Do you drink water while preaching the same water? These questions can be daunting when we genuinely examine our hearts. In this post, I want to focus on the struggle we all face every day, the challenge of taking what we know in our minds and truly believing it in our hearts. It’s the distance between our minds and our hearts. Is our theology functional?
The journey of becoming like Christ (sanctification) is not an easy one. It is through trials, successes, and suffering that the knowledge we have about God is tested, revealing whether we truly live out what we believe.
When someone comes to faith, they grow in intimacy with God by reading His word, praying, covenanting with other believers in a local church, and practising all the habits of grace. Learning about God through scripture refreshes the soul. Jesus prayed for our sanctification- “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” John 17:17 (ESV). Yet knowing the truth and living it are two very different things.
Isn’t it surprising when we pray earnestly for a job, then anxiously scramble to apply for every opening? We beg for patience, then snap at the cashier who’s “too slow.” We know we’re to love our neighbour, yet that one person drives us crazy. We’re told to work as unto the Lord, yet our workplace pushes us to the max, and we serve begrudgingly. We teach our kids kindness, then yell when they slip again. We long to welcome the saints, but our perfectionism makes them tread lightly in our home. Countless God-ordained situations chisel us into His likeness, yet living what we know remains a daily battle.
When Trials Reveal the Gap
Suffering and trials are among the chief tools God uses to reveal the war between our minds and hearts. It is often in adversity that the lies of the enemy surface so quickly.
Is God really good?
Does He truly care?
Is He sovereign even over this?
Has He forgotten me?
Is His love steadfast?
These questions are common to every believer as they wrestle with reconciling what they know about God and their current reality. The psalmist Asaph provides a biblical example of this struggle:
“Will the Lord spurn forever, and never again be favourable? Has his steadfast love forever ceased? Are his promises at an end for all time? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he, in anger, shut up his compassion?” Psalm 77:7-9 (ESV)
Think about a current trial you might be facing or a long-unanswered prayer you have continually pleaded with God for. What is the distance between what you know about God in your mind and what you are functionally believing in your heart? Is it short, or is it the longest distance you’ve known? Is it hard to admit that the distance is long, even when your words confidently proclaim who God is?
When Success Reveals the Gap
Now, let’s examine another aspect of our hearts, what about when things are flourishing? When success greets you at every door? Does your heart respond by praising God, acknowledging that it is only by His grace, as Paul reminds us? 1 Corinthians 15:10 Or do you quietly credit your hard work, perseverance, charisma, networking, or even persistent prayer and fasting?
This one can be especially subtle.
Success can deceive us into thinking we have achieved everything by our efforts.
What is the distance like then? Is your belief consistent with what you know in your head?
When Sin Reveals the Gap
Lastly, consider those moments when you are tempted and fall into sin. Your mind knows what is true about God that He calls you to live a life worthy of your calling, bringing glory to Him. Yet, the distance between your knowledge and functional belief can be so vast that you yield to sin. The battle against sin is fierce, and we can all agree that it is brutal.
Paul describes this struggle well: “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing”. Romans 7:18-19 ESV
If we’re honest, the distance between our minds and our hearts is often long. Yes, there are moments when it is very short when, by God’s grace, we take Him at His Word. But it’s a daily practice, a daily war because our hearts are prone to wander. There is war inside of us, either to please our flesh or please the Lord, Galatians 5:16 ESV.
We are not yet glorified. We are being made holy, day by day. We live in the already but not yet.
Bridging the Gap
I write not from perfection but from weakness. I desire for both you and me to grow daily in asking God to help us take Him at His Word. I invite you to join me in pursuing a deeper knowledge of God so that we can trust Him more: “And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.” Psalm 9:10 (ESV)
The heart trusts what it knows, and trusting in God is only enabled by knowing Him.
One can know much about God yet still struggle to believe it in the heart. We all face this daily tension between our minds and hearts. We close the gap by growing in our knowledge of God and counselling our hearts to trust that knowledge, trusting and loving Him, taking Him at His word in trials, suffering, and times of flourishing so that we honour Him and hallow His name by how we live out our theology.
Consider the following questions to counsel your heart when the gap seems too long:
What do you believe about God?
What do you believe about yourself?
What do you believe about others?
Engage with what you believe, ground it in God’s Word, and evaluate how you are living functionally. Though the distance between heart and mind can feel vast, it narrows as we trust our loving King and Father to live lives worthy of the gospel, Ephesians 4:1 ESV.
