Putting on the Heart of Christ by Gerald M. Fagin, SJ, offers a fresh look at the Spiritual Exercises through the lens of virtue ethics. In doing so, the book encourages us to become the kind of person whose very life is in tune with the heart of Christ. Fr. Fagin covers 15 virtues throughout the book, including gratitude, reverence, and forgiveness. Each is explained within the context of the Spiritual Exercises and the life of St. Ignatius, as well as within the context of Scripture. Ultimately, Fr. Fagin uses virtue ethics along with the Spiritual Exercises to help us think beyond. What has God called me and to think quite specifically in terms of Who has God called me to be.

As Christians, we know that we are new creations in Jesus. So we try to act differently, hoping this will make us more like Him. But changing our outward behavior doesn’t change our hearts. Only by God’s grace can we be transformed internally. Renovation of the Heart lays a biblical foundation for understanding what best-selling author Dallas Willard calls the “transformation of the spirit”—a divine process that “brings every element in our being, working from inside out, into harmony with the will of God.” This fresh approach to spiritual growth explains the biblical reasons why Christians need to undergo change in six aspects of life: thought, feeling, will, body, social context, and soul. Willard also outlines a general pattern of transformation in each area, not as a sterile formula but as a practical process that you can follow without the guilt or perfectionism so many Christians wrestle with. Don’t settle for complacency. Accept the challenge Renovation of the Heart offers to become an intentional apprentice of Jesus Christ, changing daily as you walk with Him.

More than ten million readers have enjoyed Robert Boyd Munger's spiritually challenging meditation on Christian discipleship. Now revised and expanded, My Heart--Christ's Home leads you to examine for yourself all the aspects of your life--considering what Christ most desires for you.

Thomas Goodwin aims to show from Scripture that, in all his heavenly majesty, Christ is not now aloof from believers and unconcerned, but has the strongest affections for them. --from publisher description

Christians know that God loves them, but can easily feel that he is perpetually disappointed and frustrated, maybe even close to giving up on them. As a result, they focus a lot—and rightly so—on what Jesus has done to appease God’s wrath for sin. But how does Jesus Christ actually feel about his people amid all their sins and failures? This book draws us to Matthew 11, where Jesus describes himself as “gentle and lowly in heart,” longing for his people to find rest in him. The gospel flows from God’s deepest heart for his people, a heart of tender love for the sinful and suffering. These chapters take readers into the depths of Christ’s very heart for sinners, diving deep into Bible passages that speak of who Christ is and encouraging readers with the affections of Christ for his people. His longing heart for sinners comforts and sustains readers in their up-and-down lives.

Putting on Christ is a roadmap of our heroic journey to Spiritual Rebirth, also referenced in the holy writ as "the gate" that leads to eternal life. This gate is the First Comforter which is received and initiated through a "baptism of fire" and manifestation of the Lord's Spirit. The Savior said, "Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able" (Luke 13:24). For the true seeker and truth seeker, Putting On Christ may prove a valuable guide for the journey along this straight and narrow path which leads to obtaining the knowledge of God on the level as if we had seen Him. When we receive this knowledge, we will have been healed and cleansed by Christ Himself of our sins, vices, and spiritual wounds . This knowledge then opens the door to "obtain all other things pertaining to life and godliness" (Lectures On Faith 7:18). Putting On Christ includes the stories of nine people who were born of the Spirit or born of God in our latter day-six of whom are personally known to me. These nine have obtained the same knowledge-even the perfect knowledge as to God's reality. This experiential knowledge obtained is on par with many who have entered God's Presence through a near-death experience. In either scenario, one can never be the same thereafter. Each will have received "a mighty change" or conversion of the heart towards God. This same knowledge is available to all who have come under heavenly contract with God through the ordinances by proper authority. The Lectures on Faith teach that "whatsoever constitutes the salvation of one will constitute the salvation of every creature which will be saved" (Lectures on Faith, 7:9). Jesus said to Nicodemus: "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John 3:5). Being born of the Spirit is much more than receiving the Father's promise through "confirmation" after being baptized by water. There is a broken-hearted covenant and cry of the soul we must each make in the depths of repentance, performed in complete surrender, having a committed willingness to do His will in all things thereafter. Once these and other conditions are met, the fulfillment of the Father's promise can then be made experientially "real" for us in our lives-unto the praise and glory of God. This is when we transition from the knowledge about God to the actual, perfect knowledge of God. Indeed, this is salvation. The path is real and He is coming. Waste no time. -Steven Anthony Bishop LDS Author

The heart of Jesus is sacred, and the lessons and examples it provides to us are paramount in our daily mission to follow in His footsteps. Max Lucado poses the question "what if, for one day and night, your heart was replaced by the heart of Christ?" That thought-provoking question leads to many personal revelations demonstrating that we can recast our hearts to be more like that of Jesus, and the blessings created by the transformation will unleash ripples to the widest edges of our lives and those around us.