Why Walk by Heart?

I am starting this blog today, because I believe in community and it is too scarce in my life. It was hard to find an available blog name that captured what my content will likely be. But Walk by Heart suits it. My quest is to learn the voice of the Holy Spirit that guided Jesus while he was on earth, and to practice obedience to it. Jesus was not a principled man--he did not walk according to external laws or teachings. He walked in response to the Father, always in step with His heart. Sometimes that meant doing things that violated godly principles: he gave alcohol to drunk people, worked on the Sabbath, was intentionally offensive--telling people to eat his flesh and drink his blood and calling religious people sons of Satan. But the Father who sent him was guiding him carefully between being crowned king and being crucified, and gave him each word and action according to his will.

I coach a LEGO robotics team where the kids must create autonomous robots that perform set missions. Jesus was not like these robots. The Father did not give him a set of instructions and set him off to figure it out the best he could. He kept him on "remote control", where Jesus did not do anything without the Father moving him to do so. When we ask, "What would Jesus do", the answer must always be, "What the Father willed in that moment, for that person." There is no way to live the Christian life except by heart, by the Spirit. We are never to be independently figuring out what is effective or appropriate.

I want to walk by heart like Jesus did.