Unconscious Thought Part 2

Psychological Effect of Redemption

Ephesians 1: 7 NIV

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins…

What Does God Have “in Mind” For You?

For perhaps several hundred years, many involved in creative arts such as painting, sculpting, storytelling and songwriting have been aware of some unseen force within them that affects their ingenuity.  Even mechanics and mathematicians have been intrigued by the surprising insight they mysteriously develop as they try to solve a problem.  The author Tom Clancy has this to say about the effect his subconscious thinking has upon his writing.  “I think about the characters I've created, and then I sit down and start typing and see what they will do. There's a lot of subconscious thought that goes on. It amazes me to find out, a few chapters later, why I put someone in a certain place when I did.”    We use the expression, “I need to sleep on it” to indicate the need to wait before making a decision but also because we realize that something mysterious happens to how we think about things when we actually do sleep. 

One of the most unattended difficulties we face is our complete ignorance in regard to the effect of our unconscious thinking upon our daily activities.  Does it impact your decisions?  What role does it play on your moods?  Is it influential in the sorts of relationships you develop and maintain?  Is it possible to control and direct your unconscious thoughts to your advantage?  One of the rarely considered aspects to thinking fully through Christ as part of you is the impact that has upon the unconscious world.  Later we shall discuss the supernatural forces working within us but for today we will consider only what role Christ plays in impacting our unconscious thoughts.

Who doesn’t like the potential of a special degree of insight and understanding buried within unconscious thinking if Christ is part of the heart?  It must be reminded however that for every person, unconscious thinking is corrupted by Sin.  Degenerate and volatile forces of evil  work below the surface of our conscious thinking and that has caused us all sorts of problems and even pain.  Paul the Apostle described this perfectly in Romans 7.  I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.  And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.  As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.  I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.  For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do — this I keep on doing.  Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. (Romans 7:15-20 NIV)

This unseen force, the work of Sin within our unconscious that fights against even our best intentions is so familiar to us that when we read what Paul has to say, it almost feels like he is reporting on our own minds.  But this is universal, the inability to live according to our highest values and principles.  What our conscious thinking attempts, our corrupted unconscious undermines.  There is hope though and it is a real and trustworthy hope.  Redemption, a technical term in the Bible that speaks of the work Christ did for us by being crucified and raised from the dead is how God takes out of us the Sin that corrupts our inner being.  In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. (Ephesians 1:7-8 NIV)  To understand just how crucial this is in regard to the unconscious, we must remember that the term here which is translated “forgiveness”  has as its primary meaning, “to put away”.  What Christ did by dying for us is to take away from us the Sin that is within us.  This brings us a real freedom to our unconscious thinking, not just to our conscious decision making.

Before Jesus Christ died for us, Psalm 51: 6 was a far off dream.  Now it is possible for you.  Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place. (Psalm 51:6 NIV)  As we learned earlier, truth is the translation of a Hebrew word that describes firmness, stability.  God is now free to take the chaos out of our unconscious thinking and remove the corruption from it.  How does He straighten out our unconscious inner world?  He puts into it His wisdom, or to use the Psalmist’s expression, teaches “wisdom in the inmost place.”  What once was a combustible combination of bitter memories, warped patterns of thinking and a corrupted manner of perceiving what you are encountering, your heart, for once has the potential of bringing you peace, joy and encouragement in a supernatural form.

Hebrews 4: 12-13 tells insists that God is able to dig into the deepest parts of your soul where no psychologist or mental health worker can explore.  For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.  Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:12-13 NIV) With no sinful act or sinful damage able to withstand the cleansing and healing work of Christ in the heart, the Lord searches, processes, evaluates and takes out of darkness everything that wrecks you, all through the Cross.  What is He unable to see in your heart?  What is impossible for Christ to heal in your heart?  What wrecked habit or painful memory can He not make right?  With humanity, it is impossible to clear up all this and make your heart right but as Jesus told the disciples, "What is impossible with men is possible with God." (Luke 18:27 NIV)

The Cross of Christ is the greatest miracle seen in history for through it, we are brought out of the wreck Sin has cost us and by it, God can work His way through the darkest and deepest parts of your heart and fix it all.  The Bible uses the metaphor of light to express what God does in us.  For 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 the glory of God in the face of Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6 NIV)  You might question this.  Can Jesus Christ do what some of the greatest psychologists and psychiatrists in history haven’t been able to accomplish?  Well yes He can!  If you let Him have full access to you.    The work of Christ in the heart is quite simple.  He retakes it and remakes it for the glory of God in you.  By His light, Christ eliminates the darkness of your heart.  In other words, He heals all the damage caused by Sin in the inner parts of your life.

It does not take deep insight to realize that something is thoroughly wrong with the created order.  From top to bottom, our world is broken and we are broken too.  For too long we all lived with our brokenness.  We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.  Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.  For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has?  But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. (Romans 8:22-25 NIV)  Like the rest of creation, there is inward sighing in you, deep places where there is moaning at how it has been.  The damage caused by Sin is great and for some horrific.  Yet, you don’t have to be broken any longer.  God has a new way of life for you. 

There is a wonderful promise found in the Bible and it must be considered before you move on with what you are doing.  In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.  And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will. (Romans 8:26-27 NIV)  Outwardly, you may not show any signs of damage or turmoil.  Nothing seems wrong but inwardly there is sighing and groaning.  At those spots, those secret spots, the Holy Spirit works in you.  In the deep places, He knows what hurts, what is traumatized and damaged and there He intercedes for you.  Where surgeons cannot enter and human machines cannot reach, our Lord heals, He calms, He soothes.  Without permission, the Spirit will leave you alone but at your call, He touches the angry, inflamed, lonely, infected, ruined places in your heart and He heals them.  The places of the heart where you have lost your childhood, your innocence, where the dreams you once had were stripped from you, God will heal too.  He will give you a new dream deep in your heart and new love to make your heart whole.  With your permission, the Holy Spirit will heal the damage in your heart.

Each evening, before you go to sleep, invite Christ to heal the parts of your mind you can’t explore.  Ask Him to be in charge of your dreaming and purify it.  Let your last thought before you fall asleep be of your Lord alive in you remaking your inner parts and repairing all the damage caused by the sins of the world.  Remember He won’t just come in and do whatever He wants.  Our Lord “stands at the door” of your heart and it is you who must let Him enter.