Authentic faith and a transformed heart

Authentic means genuine, of undisputed origin. To live faith that way, we must tell the truth about who we are. That often means rewriting the old stories and lies we have carried for years. Authentic faith is not built on a wish about ourselves. It is built on our brokenness and on the redemption God works in ordinary lives. 

Dallas Willard wrote that the life we live wells up from a hidden depth. What is in the heart matters more than anything else for who we become. Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit.” The greatest challenge is not a lack of knowledge about God. It is a lack of honest knowledge about our own hearts.

In Scripture, the heart is the inner life: mind, will, memory, conscience and courage. Until we understand our hearts, faith stays thin. We try to change by striving, rather than by meeting the Spirit through prayer, Scripture, worship and the company of others.

If we are honest, our hearts need help. Jesus said that what defiles a person comes from within. Jeremiah wrote that the heart is deceitful and desperately sick. Facing our history is part of genuine faith. We bring the whole person, including the parts that lean toward fear and pride.

Many of us learned early to hide. We feared that if people saw the real us, they would leave. So we put on a mask, even while we loved God. Hidden places harden. God promised through Ezekiel to give a new heart and a new spirit, to replace a heart of stone with a heart of flesh. The psalmist prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”

A life with Jesus does not begin on a blank canvas. Sins are forgiven, and we are made new in God’s sight. Still, years of habits and hurts can keep us stuck. Change takes diligence. More than that, it takes wanting to change. It is the love of God that softens what has grown hard. Romans says that love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, and that Christ died for us while we were still sinners.

We were made to look like Christ. Before we were formed, God knew us. The future He speaks over us takes shape as our hearts are changed. It is less about what we do and more about who we are becoming.

That is good news for Bonner County. Neighbors here know long winters, hard work, close communities and quiet struggles that do not always show in public. Authentic faith does not ask us to pretend we are fine. It asks us to draw near to the One who already knows the hidden places and still loves us.

If anyone is in Christ, that person is a new creation. The old has passed away. The new has come. God so loved the world that He gave His Son. A softened heart begins to share that same concern for neighbors who are hurting.

This can be a day of honesty and hope. Ask God to show you what is in your heart. Ask Him for a heart of flesh where stone has settled. Let His love fill what you have kept hidden, and let Him give courage for the next right step. That is authentic faith: not a polished image, but a real heart, made new, learning to love God and the people of this county with the same mercy we have received. 

Chris Bassett is the senior pastor at Harvest Valley Worship Center.  Find out more at hvwc.com.