Just resolving not to do it again will be of little use

CHANGING THE CHARACTER - Transforming the will (heart, spirit) and character is also the task of spiritual formation. Thoughts and feelings depend on the will (choices), yet the will depends upon the contents of the mind (thoughts, feelings). They are an interlocking whole.

Our character is that internal structure of the self that is revealed by our longtime patterns of behavior. From it, our actions automatically arise. Credit reports, résumés, and letters of reference reveal what kinds of thoughts, feelings, and tendencies of will we habitually act from and, therefore, how we will act in the future. But character can be changed, which is what spiritual formation in Christlikeness is about.

If, for example, I have injured someone (possibly a loved one) by speaking or acting in anger, I may be remorseful and ask myself if I really want to be the kind of person who does such things. If I do not want that character, it will be necessary to change my thoughts and feelings. Just resolving not to do it again will be of little use. Will alone cannot bring about change.

But will implemented through changing my thoughts and feelings can result in my becoming the kind of person who doesn’t do such things anymore. In order to change, I must come to possess thoughts and feelings that enable me to choose to change those former thoughts and feelings that caused the anger. By choosing this, I come with “repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21). The human mind and will must be transformed through interaction with thoughts and feelings deriving from the Word and the Spirit.

Now we ask, What does a will or heart look like that has been transformed into Christlikeness? It is characterized by single-minded and joyous devotion to God and his will, to what God wants for us, and to service to him and to others because of him. This outcome of Christian spiritual formation becomes our character when it governs the responses of every dimension of our being. Then we have “put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27, KJV).