Intelligent Design 2

[HKHaugan]

We have been talking about intelligent design behind the whole of the universe. For us as disciples of Jesus the idea is a given. So let’s look at it in a bit more detail as we consider what it means to be intelligently designed in the image of God. We have an identity. We are individuals, persons with unique minds, hearts and spirits, threefold spiritual personalities with physical bodies who are so unique that no one before or since has ever or will ever be the same. We have a self-consciousness unlike anyone in history. That gives each of us tremendous significance and, when taken seriously, can stimulate us to achieve far beyond what we thought possible since being alive in this world is a one time and one time only experience (Heb.9:27 “And just as it is appointed for man to die once…”). We are designed for this time in which we are alive. What we do with it is up to us. The choices we make write the script summarizing our influence and life in the world.

The ground for defining our uniqueness is the person of Jesus, God the Son, whose identity as the unique Son of God “…is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb.13:8).” It is His uniqueness that guarantees us being unique, personal, individual, spiritual and relational with a special moral purpose.

Here in Part 2 we want to look at the mind, heart and spirit and see how they were designed to fit into each other. We have already established that in Jesus Christ these are expressed in perfect balance. But there is a crimp in the mix. Human beings, because of sin, are out of balance. One of the purposes of God the Son, Jesus, becoming a man was to return us to the form God intended in the first place.

In order for us to be rebalanced we need the first step which is rebirth by the Spirit of God. It means having a spiritually renewed mind by giving us a truth that organizes our belief. Belief is the thinking platform that gives the heart and the spirit a foundation. Belief is not just an intellectual exercise. Belief is an ongoing pattern of thought which allows the mind and the spirit to operate in security, a pattern that doesn’t change with cultural winds and climate. Belief is like the rudder and compass on a boat. They maintain direction by keeping a set course for a specific destination.

The mind is designed for belief and it serves three functions. First, it sorts out information it is fed. Second, it organizes concepts and principles into a thinking reasoning engine. Third, it is the stabilizer for our heart and spirit. In all three the Scripture gives us the principles for sorting, the way to organize after we sort and the security to act out what the mind and heart have concluded.

When we come to the design of the heart the intention was to make it the vehicle for trust. It is trusting that enables us to relate to others, to feel what they feel, to resolve what belief in the mind leads us to accept and decide when it comes to relating to God and others. It is the heart that is designed to consciously open our inner corridors and respond. It is the heart that is designed to be sympathetic and empathetic and the throne for our relationships. It is the seat of love, compassion, tenderness, mercy, and all the emotion that lies in its depths. With belief as its foundation the heart is the sensitivity sensor. It gauges the relational pressure placed upon it.

Then we have the design of the spirit. It was made for faith. Our spirit is the mirror for the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of life, to energize what the mind and the heart have offered it to reflect God’s presence through us. Our spirit is designed to have faith as the initiator of behavior in the mind and heart by reaching out relationally. As our mind is challenged to reason like God’s mind, our heart open to receive God’s heart, our spirit is buoyed by the Holy Spirit to carry out in faith the action for which it was designed in us.

Keep in mind that no one can do what we were designed to do unless we are in relationship with God and only God can arrange and rearrange the circumstance to accomplish that for which we were designed, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Eph.2:10).” We are that unique, others are that unique and it is God’s uniqueness that is calling us to recognize, realize and encourage in others. That is our purpose, our mission and our ministry.