Loving God with our Mind

I had the privilege of hearing Jen Wilkins speak at a Women's Leadership Conference just a few weeks ago. I also have had the privilege of reading her book, "Women of the Word" and have been enlightened by a new concept. Loving God with your mind!

I've been deep in the word since July of this year, and I must tell you... the more I read, the hungrier for God's Word I get!  I want to know more. I want to understand more. I want to gorge on His word and digest it deep within my soul! For me, someone who felt stupid for much of my life... this is *exciting* to me!!

I have a women's breakfast coming up in a couple of days for our church and felt really compelled to share this new concept with them...loving God with your mind! So here is what I wrote. Some of it from my own studies and some of it adapted from Jen Wilkin's book.

Did you know the word disciple means “learner”? As a disciple of Christ, you and I are called to learn, and learning requires effort.

Mark 12:30 and Luke 10:27 both command us to 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"

The Bible is a book that boldly and clearly reveals who God is on every page. In Genesis it does this by placing God as the subject of creation. In Exodus, it places him in comparison to Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt. In the Psalms, David extols the Lord’s power and majesty. The prophets proclaim his wrath and justice. The Gospels & Epistles unfold his character in the person and work of Christ. The book of Revelation displays his dominion over all things. From beginning to end the Bible is a book about God.

We are so often mislead into thinking the Bible is really about us though. Asking it to teach us how to live and assure us that we are loved and forgiven. We are these things!! But the purpose of the Bible isn’t just about me or written solely to help me.

We must turn around our habit of asking “Who am I?” and we must ask, “What does this teach me about God?” We must acknowledge that this book is about God before we can ask it to teach us anything about ourselves. The bible was given to us so that we can learn who God is, so that we can receive more wisdom about the truths of God, and in turn… fall more in love with Him.

When we know something, then we love that something, don’t we? When I met Andy, then I knew I loved him, but truthfully I did not *really* know Andy. We met on the internet in July. We were engaged in October and got married in June. Being in 2 different states, We saw eachother less than 10 times before we got married although we talked by phone often. Did we really know eachother? Not at all! Although we thought we did!! Now that I know him… really know him.. 12 years later, then I love him so much more today than I *thought* I loved him 13 years ago.

I also love architecture and old buildings and anything to do with history. I love the dress of the 1800’s and history of what it was like to live in the early 1900’s. I relish anything historical. I love to watch period dramas and read historical fiction. The more I learn about the hard work it takes to create architectural pieces of art, then the more I appreciate it. The more I learn about the reason for the dress of days long ago or how they lived, then I fall in love with that era even more. The more I learn, the more I love it and appreciate it. The same is true with God.

A Yale PhD professor of cognitive psychology who specializes in pleasure research who studied how humans develop the ability to derive pleasure from people, experiences, and things. He has discovered through his research that pleasure doesn’t simply occur, it develops. And how it develops is a point worth noting: “People ask me, “’How do you get more pleasure out of life?’ and my answer is extremely academic: Study more.”

Attaching our intellect to our faith doesn’t come easily though. For many of us, the strength of our faith is gauged by how we’re feeling… about a song, about a sermon, about our quiet time. However, in Romans 12:2-3 says “Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” In this verse, Paul states we can have renewal, but we have to renew our mind… not our heart. 

It's a wonderful thing when our hearts overflow with affection for the Lord, but emotion alone isn't enough. John Piper rightly says, "The apex of glorifying God is enjoying him with the heart. But this is an empty emotionalism where that joy is not awakened and sustained by true views of God for who he really is." The way we know God truly in our hearts is through the right use of our minds.

As we grow in wisdom of who God is and His character through studying His Word, we cannot help but grow into a much deeper love for Him. This further explains why Romans 12:2 says we are transformed by the renewing of our minds.

1 Chronicles 28:9 “And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.

David asked Solomon to serve God with both his heart and mind. Some people are all heart and no mind in their service to God; others are all mind and no heart. Both of these are important in order to truly serve Him.

The crux of it is… Bible study that equips us doesn’t divorce our heart from studying. It puts the heart in the right place: informed by the mind.