Christianity is a thinking religion

We have spent at least one week of each month this year talking about spiritual growth. It is a complicated topic to address fully because it is essentially all the things that we do to be more like Christ. One thing that has really struck me during this year of (barely skimming) looking at spiritual growth is how truly important our mind is.

We are thinking beings

We can start with the obvious: God make us thinking beings. He communicates with us in many ways, but the primary one is through words, the Bible. Those words must be understood and interpreted by the mind, then turned into the actions that show the comprehension. All of this requires a very engaged mind.

How often I have had to stop reading and go back because at some point I lost the thread of the paragraph. My mind wasn’t engaged while the words were right in front of me. I have to take extensive notes when I listen to sermons, or my mind wanders, and I gain nothing. Without notes, two minutes later I wouldn’t recall the message or point of the sermon. He wants our minds engaged with the words we read.

The Old Testament references to the mind

Deuteronomy 6:4-5 begins with ‘Hear’, and the word is more a call to heed what is to follow. It continues, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength,’ (Deut. 6:5). The word that is often translated ‘heart’ differs in meaning from what we may think of today. ‘Heart’ encompasses the intellect, intentions or will, and values that we have as individuals. There was little if any reference to emotions. So, this heart is what we would call our ‘mind’ in today’s vernacular.

So, we find that Moses was calling on the believers to use their minds and their beings with all their strength to love the Lord. I find that this image overwhelms me. It is all-encompassing in the way that we choose to love God, to show that love.

The Christian walk and the mind

I find that the mind is called upon not only to understand or read and interpret. The mind is necessary in belief and trust. As we read, the demons too know who Jesus is. Our mind knows who Jesus is: our Lord and Savior, the Son of God. So, what makes the difference between knowing of and believing in? The belief is when we acknowledge, or choose, that something is true. When our minds choose to accept the truth that we have knowledge of, it becomes belief. This choice seems to be a central part of our mind activity.

As a Christian, our choices in belief come from the knowledge we have and the choice to believe and act on that knowledge. The Christian life cannot separate the mind from actions. The mind reads, knows, understands and then directs to act based on the belief that comes from that knowledge.

Love that includes the mind

Two people are driving along the road, heading to work. Unfortunately, they both get a flat tire. One stops and thinks, ‘oh goodness, I didn’t plan this today. Let’s get on with it.’ The second slams the car door open and forces out a raging groan, exclaims the whole time they change the tire. Which life reflects that of a Christian?

I am not saying that the one who exclaims the whole time is not a Christian. They may well be. Which one has the knowledge and the belief that we have joy in our life, that all things work for our good, that we can do all things in Christ? That is the walk of a Christian using their mind, making the choice to believe that and accept the current circumstances joyfully.

A group of teens were on a weekend retreat when the line for the showers started getting long. Soon one, then another, began grumbling. The leaders stopped and asked what was going on. ‘I’m only this way when I am hungry and tired,’ the teen responds.

We might all agree that trying circumstances mean that we are tested to walk the walk that I see described in using the mind to overcome the emotions. I too get irritable when I am tired and hungry. But what leads me in those cases: the mind or the emotions? The mind that has trained to stay focused on the Lord, to love the Lord and to think on what is lovely, et al (Phil. 4:8), together with the Spirit (Rom. 12:2), will succeed in keeping the irritation at bay.

The mind and belief in Christ

The intersection of the mind and belief in Christ leads me to the conclusion that spiritual growth is all about becoming more Christlike in willingly choosing to do so. Choosing to know the Lord and love the Lord begins with acting on the knowledge we have from the Bible. It cannot remain static and simply a fact but must become the belief that drives our actions.

Romans 12:2 exhorts us to, ‘be transformed by the renewing of your mind.’ The renewal begins with and by the Holy Spirit but requires us to co-labor to bring the renewal about, setting the world and the fleshly nature aside for the things of His world. Fix your mind on Christ (Heb. 3:1).