“We can’t recalibrate the heart from the top down, through merely informational measures. The orientation of the heart happens from the bottom up, through the formation of our habits of desires. Learning to love (God) takes practice.”*

I believe the point is good, but it is insufficient. Although he mentions that the heart can’t be recalibrated merely by information, it takes information to recalibrate anything. To use the instrumentation language of “recalibration.” To recalibrate something, you need a solid familiarity of the type upon which the item is based. 

For example, a speedometer on a vehicle can occasionally need to be recalibrated. How might you do that? You must learn the information. There is a baseline upon which the system is set. This, of course, is more technical than emotional. But the point stands. To properly recalibrate anything requires the foundational information. 

It would only be fair to state that it doesn’t seem he suggests this happens without information, only that information is not the foundation. However, the gospel is information, and without it as the foundation, no heart can be reshaped to bear the image of Christ. The rudimentary awareness of human sin and exposure to the message of salvation propels one to respond in sincerity and obedience. This shapes the habits that form life. It is doubtless that habits are as life-shaping and life-altering as he proposes, but the fire must be lit and fueled by the information of the gospel of King Jesus. 

* James K.A. Smith, You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2016), 25.