Loving God with your Mind

Strong and Courageous

Dec. 14, 2018

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. Matt. 22:37

It is interesting to me that many people in our culture view the entirety of Christianity from the perspective of raw emotion alone without any engaging of the mind what so ever. Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones describes this idea that “some think you can only be a Christian if you stop using your mind, and abandon yourself to complete reliance on feeling and emotion.” He further states that this is a very common attitude towards Christianity and the Christian faith today” Interestingly, this was written over 80 years ago. These ideas are not new, they have been around for some time, however, it seems that today they are much more accentuated to the point where politically correct militancy about this is commonplace.

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to be a dumb person in order to be a Christian. This presents a challenging landscape as this is often the de-facto point of reference. By engaging our mind, we have the opportunity to dispel much of this belief. For example, it makes much more sense to believe that the creation of the universe is the product of intelligence rather than occurring by chance or necessity or some combination of the last two. The probability is greatly exponential in the favor of the Christian thinker. There is also no intelligent rational explanation for the origin of DNA, apart from creative design. Or marvel at the complexity of a hummingbird's tongue, I suggest that you "google" that one.

The place for the mind in Christian faith should not… must not be neglected. Likewise, we should be more than doctrinal robots that rely solely on a set of beliefs. There is a relational aspect to Christ that cannot be denied. The Bible actually was written for us to engage and think. The scripture says for us to come and reason together. Our faith encompasses all the facets of mind, will, reason, and emotion together. We should bring all of these dimensions together in being salt and light to the world around us.

 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1^st Peter 1:13