God is sovereign, yet man is a responsible free agent. God created you with the freedom to choose within the boundaries of His sovereignty and timing. While God created you (and everyone else!) to desire to be in a relationship with Him (Jeremiah 32:40, Romans 11:20, 2 Corinthians 3:14), He also created you with free choice; the ability to prioritize and make decisions (Genesis 2:16-17, Joshua 24:15, Galatians 5:13). It's not until you realize that your self-driven ways haven't brought you soul satisfaction, that you will decide to repent and turn to God. His gift of the Holy Spirit will guide your conscience into righteous thinking so you will choose to practice holy behavior- completing a 180 degree change in you (John 16:13, Romans 12-13, 1 Timothy 2:4, Appendix 1U and Appendix 2L). The mind of Christ expresses behavior that conforms to God's character.

Christian cognitive consistency is available to anyone who calls on the name of the Lord and then decides to act on His Spiritual truth physically. A free-will decision to act consistently with your purified heart uninterrupted by self-consciousness frees you from the anxiety of cognitive dissonance (Romans 10:13, 5:5, Acts 15:9, Luke 23:42-43, Proverbs 4:23, John 7:38, Hebrews 10:22).  

• Read more about Christian cognitive consistency in the article entitled "Subdue Your Soul" in the Still Anxious tab. 

 

To call on God and then to NOT follow the leading of the Holy Spirit grieves Him and leaves you in a state of anxiety from Christian cognitive dissonance (Proverbs 12:25, Philippians  4:6-7, 1 Peter 5:7). When the Spirit is grieved continually, the desire to please God is stifled and replaced with sinful behavior motivated again by self-satisfaction (Hebrews 6:4-6, 1 Thessalonians 5:19). A lack of righteousness acted out by Christians in today’s physical world results in the psychological consequence of cognitive dissonance (anxiety) and the social consequence of dysfunctional behavior. Don’t abuse God’s grace by allowing fear, a negative imagination, or public opinion to halt your expression of God’s truth (Romans 1:16-25). It’s your responsibility to take God’s grace (the Holy Spirit in you) and renew your mind so you can take what is true in your spirit (God’s Spirit living in you) and have it manifest in your soul and body, so you can produce the fruit of love; faith that produces peace and joy that comes from practicing goodness, kindness, patience, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-25). 

 

The Holy Spirit is seen by God as Christ’s righteousness in you, so it's your spirit (only) that is the recipient of  God's gift. Don't confuse or abuse this spiritual miracle. This gift from God means you are not judged by God according to your physical performance because your spirit is covered by Christ’s righteousness-a gift from God (Romans 1:17, 1 Corinthians 1:30, 2 Corinthians 5:21). However, you need to be both emotionally and physically invested in the relationship with God so intimacy emerges to replace your independent spirit (see Appendix 2N). After this commitment is made, worldly habits change. (Read more in Appendix 1P). 

 

For you, as a Christian to achieve cognitive consistency, you need to reprioritize your heart values and act them out accordingly in public. The consequences for a Christian who doesn't do this is anxiety, generated as a response to cognitive dissonance (Galatians 6:7-8, 1 Timothy 4:2). Only by implementing value-based decision-making will a Christian practice holy behavior which stifles this feeling of anxiety that stems from uncertainty of change. If you have NOT placed God in the priority position of life, you will NOT choose to conform your behavior to His holiness standards (Matthew 6:33).