Relating to God by appropriating His truth in the innermost place
Augustine was a man who knew what it meant to live with a divided and disordered heart. Before his conversion, he chased every passion he believed would quiet the ache inside him, pleasure, intellect, status, relationships, and philosophical systems that promised enlightenment but delivered only deeper confusion. His life was crowded with noise, desire, and inner turmoil. Yet none of it brought rest.
In his Confessions, he captures the essence of this struggle in a single line that has echoed throughout church history: “for Thou madest us for Thyself, and our heart is restless, until it rest in Thee.” Augustine realized that his restlessness was not a flaw to escape, but a signpost pointing him toward the God he was created to know. His turmoil was not solved by new habits or moral strength. It was transformed only when God’s truth broke open the deepest places of his heart, the secret desires, the hidden motives, the fears, the loves, and the loyalties he had never fully surrendered to God.
What Augustine discovered is still true for every disciple today: spiritual formation is not external behavior management, it is inner renovation. God does not begin by trimming our actions; He begins by reshaping our hearts so that our actions flow from a new internal reality. The Christian life is, at its core, a process of allowing the truth of God to enter the most honest, unpolished, and unguarded places within us.
Augustine’s testimony invites us into that same journey. It reminds us that lasting change happens only when God’s truth takes root in the inner life, where motives are formed, desires are shaped, and identity is grounded. And so we must ask: How do we become people whose hearts are shaped by God’s truth at the deepest level?
I remember sitting in a volunteer training class at a local Pregnancy Resource Center when the pastor leading the session introduced a simple but insightful diagnostic tool called “The Triangle.” It was designed to help individuals discern who or what was functioning as the controlling influence in their lives. At the top point of the triangle is “the authority,” the bottom right corner represents “the subject,” and the bottom left corner represents “the situation.”
For example, when a young woman arrives seeking an abortion, the advocate’s first task is to discern who currently sits at the top of her triangle. Often, “the authority” is not God but an idol shaping her desires and fears, perhaps the boyfriend, or career ambitions, or simply fear itself. This matters because whatever occupies the top of the triangle determines what a person believes, which in turn shapes what they feel, how they think, and ultimately the choices they make.
The goal of the advocate is therefore to reach the heart, to uncover the true affections that are directing her life. Whoever controls the innermost place will inevitably control everything else. And only by reorienting the heart toward God can lasting change take place, echoing Augustine’s voice in that our restless hearts can only rest in God.
Practical application
How, then, can we appropriate God’s truth in our hearts so that we may experience true rest, true direction, and most importantly true intimacy with our Maker? We begin by assessing our heart’s affections with honesty and humility. This means identifying who or what truly occupies the throne of our inner life, who sits at the top of the “triangle” where only the Lord rightly belongs.
This kind of assessment requires wisdom, because Scripture reminds us that “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick” (Jer. 17:9). Our hearts naturally drift toward lesser authorities like fear, approval, success, relationships, comfort, each competing for our deepest loyalty. A right understanding of our heart’s condition becomes a necessary reorientation tool. It helps us recognize when something other than God has become the functional authority shaping what we believe, how we feel, and ultimately how we live.
To appropriate God’s truth, we must continually dethrone these false authorities and submit them to the Lordship of Christ. As we do, our inner life becomes anchored not in shifting emotions or circumstances, but in the unchanging truth of God Himself. Only then are we positioned to receive His guidance, rest in His presence, and cultivate the intimacy for which we were created.
Worship:
True worship is one of the most powerful ways we reorient the heart toward God. Worship shifts our attention away from ourselves, our fears, desires, ambitions, and anxieties, and places the weight of our affection and trust on the One who alone is worthy. When we sing, pray, or meditate on God’s character, we are actively reshaping the deepest parts of our inner life according to truth. This is why the great hymns of the faith have endured for centuries: they are theologically rich anchors for restless hearts. Lines like “Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul” remind us that God’s sovereignty, goodness, and nearness remain constant no matter our circumstances. Worship is not about stirring up emotion; it is about placing God back on the throne of the heart, allowing His glory, His promises, and His character to define reality for us again. In worship, the heart is trained to desire what God desires and trust what God has spoken.
Scripture memorization:
If worship reorients the heart upward, Scripture memorization roots it deeply in truth. The psalmist writes, “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (Ps. 119:11). Memorizing Scripture is more than a spiritual discipline; it is the slow, intentional engraving of God’s voice onto the innermost places of the soul. When God’s Word is hidden in our hearts, it becomes readily available in moments of temptation, suffering, confusion, and decision-making. It shapes our instincts, informs our desires, and trains our thoughts to align with God's will. In a world filled with competing narratives and self-constructed identities, Scripture memory builds a reservoir of truth that we can draw from, truth that steadies us, guards us, and reminds us who God is and who we are in Him. Through this practice, the Spirit uses the Word to transform us from within, renewing our minds and recalibrating our affections.
Relationships:
God never designed spiritual formation to be a solitary endeavor. The truths we are seeking to appropriate in our hearts are strengthened, tested, and refined in the context of deep, Christ-centered relationships. Proverbs reminds us that “iron sharpens iron” (Prov. 27:17), meaning that those who walk closely with us have profound influence over the shape of our inner life. To cultivate a heart rooted in God’s truth, we must intentionally pursue relationships with people who will lovingly point us back to Christ, ask us the deeper questions, and help keep a spiritual pulse on our lives. These brothers and sisters become mirrors through which we see our blind spots, encouragers who strengthen our faith, and companions who help us persevere when our hearts drift. In a genuine Christian community, we learn to confess sin, bear burdens, pray for one another, and remind each other of the gospel. These relationships serve as practical expressions of God’s grace, continually drawing our affections and loyalty back to Him.
Augustine’s reminder that our hearts remain restless until they rest in God gives shape to the entire journey of appropriating truth in the innermost place. True rest comes not from self-mastery or clearer circumstances, but from allowing God to reclaim the throne of the heart and reorder our desires toward Him. As we worship with God-centered songs, store Scripture within us, and walk closely with Christ-centered companions, our affections gradually turn from restlessness to rootedness. In these practices, the Spirit trains us to locate our identity, peace, and purpose not in the shifting voices of our circumstances or idols, but in the steady presence of the One who made us for Himself.
Discussion Questions
In what areas of your life do you most experience a “restless heart”?
What tends to occupy the “top of the triangle” for you? what functions as authority over your choices, emotions, or identity?
Which of the three practices (worship, Scripture memorization, relationships) do you need to lean into most right now, and why?
JAugustine, The Confessions of St. Augustine, ed. Rosalie DeRosset (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2007), 20
