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Renovation of the Heart

Lesson 3

The Six Dimensions of
the Human Self

Mark 12:30  ·  1 Thessalonians 5:23  ·  Romans 12:1–2

Two Weeks In

The Heart Audit: what came out when you stopped managing your image?

We Are Composites

Different parts pulling in different directions

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength."

Mark 12:30

Transformation Isn't a Single Switch

It's the renovation of an entire system.

"The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." Matthew 26:41

Why We Need
a Map

Part 1

Incomplete Approaches

Mind Only
Right theology, miserable inner life
Behavior Only
Heart unchanged, behavior snaps back
Feeling Only
Feelings fade, faith collapses

Each one is real. None of them is enough.

Part 2 — The Map

Six Dimensions of the Human Self

1
Thought
Ideas, beliefs, assumptions
2
Feeling
Emotion, desire, sensation
3
Will
Choice, executive center
4
Body
Habits, momentum, memory
5
Social
Relationships, roles, community
6
Soul
Integrating center
Dimension 1

Thought

"Be transformed by the renewal of your mind." Romans 12:2

Not just new information — a renovated way of seeing.

Dimension 2

Feeling

The goal: feelings ordered, not eliminated.

When feelings rule, they've taken a role they were never meant to have.

Dimension 3

Will

"I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate." Romans 7:15

The executive center — but it depends on thought and feeling to act.

Dimension 4

Body

"Present your bodies as a living sacrifice." Romans 12:1

The body has its own memory — trained for life or for destruction.

Dimension 5

Social Context

Your environment is inseparable from your inner life.

You can't be internally different from your context — not without herculean effort.

Dimension 6

Soul

"He restores my soul." Psalm 23:3

The unifying organizer beneath all the parts — running with little thought required.

Part 3 — Integration & Order

These Dimensions Are Ordered

Proper Order
God
Spirit
Mind
Soul
Body
Inverted by Sin
Body
Soul
Mind
Spirit
God

The order of idolatry — self at the center, God at the margins

"May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless."

1 Thessalonians 5:23

One Dimension Focus

Pick one. Pay attention to it all week.

Thought
What occupies your mind when you're not directing it?
Feeling
What triggers your strongest emotional reactions?
Will
Where do you intend one thing and do another?
Body
Where is your body trained toward life or destruction?
Social
Whose voices carry the most weight?
Soul
When do you feel whole? When scattered?