"...they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so." Acts 17:11
"...but be transformed by the renewal of your mind." Romans 12:2
"Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus..." Philippians 2:5
"Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth." Colossians 3:2
"Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything." 2 Timothy 2:7
The old saying goes, "A mind is a terrible thing to waste." There is definite truth in that quote. God has given us all a mind that He wants us to use. As Jesus said in Matthew 22:37 we are to love the Lord with all of our minds as well as our heart and soul. All the verses listed above place a great importance on the mind yet we see it as the least important of the three ways we are to love God. If Jesus said we are to love Him with our whole mind then why don’t we? Most Christians do not exercise the mind to its fullest capability. The human mind is capable of attaining great sums of knowledge and wisdom as we see with Solomon in 1 Kings 4:29. While the mind is in fact limited, as is all creation, I believe that it is the least limited of all creation. God has granted to us a great gift that He intends for us to use for His glory.
There needs to be more emphasis on the mind in the church today and it needs to begin with its relationship with salvation. Salvation is not a change occurring only in the heart and in the soul, but it is a change in the mind just the same. Paul tells us in Romans to "be transformed by the renewal of your mind" (Rom 12:2). That renewal happens through constant thinking and meditation on the Word of God, by which the Holy Spirit changes our thoughts. John MacArthur says, "The renewed mind is one saturated with and controlled by the Word of God." The renewed mind has a new focus and a new goal by setting its mind on things above (Col 3:2). It thinks critically about life’s questions and situations, and is given understanding from the Lord (2 Tim 2:7). Maybe it is just me but where is this in the church today? Why is the mind overlooked and ignored? Why are we not challenged to think like a Christian, or primarily like Jesus?
When was the last time you heard a sermon on thinking like Jesus? It's always love like Jesus or act like Jesus. I believe if we think like Jesus did we will love and act like he did. Jesus did not sit back and say to the Pharisees, “Let’s not argue over doctrine. Let’s just love me.” Most often in the context of religious discussion Jesus would respond with, “For it is written.” He responded to them with Scripture because He had the definition of a “renewed mind,” although it needed no renewing. He corrected their misunderstandings and misinterpretations with truth. He never dodged a theological conversation. Why do we? I would have to say it is because we do not have a renewed mind to think with and confidently defend the Scriptures.
Too many people get caught up in the mindset of "let's just love Jesus and not argue over doctrine." Love is surely not to be overlooked. But constant arguing over doctrine will not accomplish much either. As love is not to be overlooked, so it is with doctrine. Doctrine matters! To better understand doctrine, we need to think critically for ourselves, examine what we believe and stand upon it with our own two feet. If we rely solely on someone else's teaching we will never be able to defend our beliefs with any confidence. As I said in my other blog I believe it takes thinking, learning, and talking to develop what one believes. Thinking allows the mind to process the knowledge already known about the subject at hand and begin to formulate ideas. Learning allows us to discover whether our thinking is correct or incorrect. And talking allows us to see what other people believe on a subject and put our knowledge to the test by making a defense of that which we have learned about and now believe or maybe disbelieve.
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