The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers… God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:4, 6 (NIV)
The blindness is in the mind, and God cures that by shining his light into the heart! God’s light in the heart brings sight to the mind.
This is very important for understanding yourself. What you think, what you feel, what you want, and what you do are all bound up together. Your mind and heart are distinguishable but inseparable.
Maybe you’ve heard something like this, “The longest journey is the 18 inches from your head to your heart.” Think about what that is saying: What you think and what you feel are totally different. They’re disconnected, a long way apart.
This leads people to say things like, “The gospel is in my head, but it isn’t in my heart.” If you feel that the gospel hasn’t really changed you, you’ll be tempted to keep looking for some kind of emotional experience that will! If someone said this to you, how would you help them?
The problem isn’t that the truth needs to make a long journey from the head to the heart; the problem is that the truth in the mind isn’t big enough or real enough to capture the heart, so it makes very little difference to how a person actually lives. You might begin by asking a person who feels this way: “Tell me about the Christianity that’s in your head.”
What do you think the real problem is for people who feel that their faith is in their head but not in their heart?
