Love God: With All Your Mind
This week we are looking at what it means to love God with all your mind.
Last week we looked at the idea of making an intentional choice to love God and follow Him every day. This speaks to the free will and free agency that we have as humans. Going hand-in-hand with that is the idea that we are created as thinking beings. We have a brain and a mind and are capable of thought and understanding and learning and knowledge and wisdom and logic and imagination. We are not “mindless zombies”. We are thinking beings capable of great intellect, and we are supposed to use that mind and intellect to love God.
“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’” – Mark 12:30
The word mind here, in Greek, is dianoia, which means deep thought, imagination, understanding
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” – Deuteronomy 6:5
If you notice “mind” is not included in the commandment from Deuteronomy that Jesus is quoting in Mark. There may be a couple of reasons for this, but likely it is simply because in Hebrew, the word heart was a much more encompassing word that included both feelings and thoughts. However, in Greek, it was necessary to specify heart and mind.
Thoughts, intellect, knowledge, wisdom, art and imagination were all important in Greek society, much the same way that they are for us today, and therefore, it was understandable that “thoughts” would be separated and handled differently than feelings and emotions.
Now, when it comes to thoughts and knowledge and wisdom, there’s a lot of it. All of human knowledge, while not actually able to be quantified, is estimated to be measured in exabytes or zettabytes. An exabyte is equal to one billion gigabytes, and a zettabyte is equal to one trillion gigabytes. That’s a lot of information!
Knowledge is, essentially, infinite. The fact is that those measurements are estimates of the current amount of human knowledge, but there is so so so much more, even just about our own planet, that we don’t know or are discovering every day.
When it comes to God the same is true, we have the Bible, which gives us a lot of information, but it’s not, by any means, everything there is to know about God. If anything, it’s the highlights or the Cliff Notes. We even see in John 21:25 – “Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” That’s just referring to the actions of Jesus during His 33 years on earth, not the entirety of an infinite God.
However, what’s so amazing about God, and in some ways, what separates Christianity from a lot of other religions or belief systems, is that God is both approachable and knowable. While we can never fully know Him. He invites us to gain knowledge and wisdom and to use our minds in our love of Him.
In 1 Corinthians 2:11-13 it says, “For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.” God gives us the ability to understand Him. Again, not fully, because He is infinite, but He willingly makes Himself, His truths available for us.
Let’s look at a few areas of following/loving God that deal with your mind.
Part of loving God with our minds means taking control of our thoughts and directing them toward things that are good and beneficial and which honor God.
Romans 12:2 – “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Philippians 4:8 – “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
It can be incredibly easy to let our thoughts take control of us. We’ve probably all had times when our thoughts take the reins and we just dwell on things that are angry or sad or anxious or depressive or prideful or cruel. Thoughts can be intrusive. However, we are able to take those thoughts captive. Even if we can’t control the immediate thought that jumps out in certain situations, we can choose to control what we think about after the fact, on any given day, and how we respond to the thoughts that we have.
Loving God with our mind means thinking about things that glorify Him and allowing Him to mold and change and transform our mind and thoughts.
Secondly, we can love God with our minds by obtaining knowledge.
The truth is that Christianity is not at odds with Science or History or Anthropology or Math or Philosophy or Reason or anything else. Those things are all given by God and can be used to worship Him.
2 Corinthians 10:5 – “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,”
Luke 21:15 – “for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.”
Both of these verses speak of wisdom as coming from God and being a positive thing. They speak to logic and reason and show how both actually help to prove God. God is not afraid of people learning things and gaining knowledge. He is big enough to handle questions, and since He is real, all knowledge ultimately points to Him.
Acts 17:22-23; 27-28 – “So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. … that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for
“‘In him we live and move and have our being’;
as even some of your own poets have said,
“‘For we are indeed his offspring.’”
Paul was learned and knowledgeable, not just in Christianity or Judaism, but in Greek society and poetry and other religions, and many other things as well. He used this knowledge and learning to help proclaim the truth of Christ to a lost and searching world.
Finally:
Proverbs 3:13-15 – “Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her.”
Proverbs 9:10 – “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.”
God views knowledge and wisdom as incredibly valuable things, but at the end of the day. He is the source of all knowledge and wisdom, that which is known to humanity and unknown. We love God by seeking to know Him, to have thoughts that reflect Him, to defend Him “though He doesn’t need defense” with facts, but also, our obedience to Him and love of Him is a starting point for knowledge and understanding. Apart from Him we will never have access to all wisdom, but in His love we receive Truth.
Love God with all your mind.
Last week we looked at the idea of making an intentional choice to love God and follow Him every day. This speaks to the free will and free agency that we have as humans. Going hand-in-hand with that is the idea that we are created as thinking beings. We have a brain and a mind and are capable of thought and understanding and learning and knowledge and wisdom and logic and imagination. We are not “mindless zombies”. We are thinking beings capable of great intellect, and we are supposed to use that mind and intellect to love God.
“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’” – Mark 12:30
The word mind here, in Greek, is dianoia, which means deep thought, imagination, understanding
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” – Deuteronomy 6:5
If you notice “mind” is not included in the commandment from Deuteronomy that Jesus is quoting in Mark. There may be a couple of reasons for this, but likely it is simply because in Hebrew, the word heart was a much more encompassing word that included both feelings and thoughts. However, in Greek, it was necessary to specify heart and mind.
Thoughts, intellect, knowledge, wisdom, art and imagination were all important in Greek society, much the same way that they are for us today, and therefore, it was understandable that “thoughts” would be separated and handled differently than feelings and emotions.
Now, when it comes to thoughts and knowledge and wisdom, there’s a lot of it. All of human knowledge, while not actually able to be quantified, is estimated to be measured in exabytes or zettabytes. An exabyte is equal to one billion gigabytes, and a zettabyte is equal to one trillion gigabytes. That’s a lot of information!
Knowledge is, essentially, infinite. The fact is that those measurements are estimates of the current amount of human knowledge, but there is so so so much more, even just about our own planet, that we don’t know or are discovering every day.
When it comes to God the same is true, we have the Bible, which gives us a lot of information, but it’s not, by any means, everything there is to know about God. If anything, it’s the highlights or the Cliff Notes. We even see in John 21:25 – “Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” That’s just referring to the actions of Jesus during His 33 years on earth, not the entirety of an infinite God.
However, what’s so amazing about God, and in some ways, what separates Christianity from a lot of other religions or belief systems, is that God is both approachable and knowable. While we can never fully know Him. He invites us to gain knowledge and wisdom and to use our minds in our love of Him.
In 1 Corinthians 2:11-13 it says, “For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.” God gives us the ability to understand Him. Again, not fully, because He is infinite, but He willingly makes Himself, His truths available for us.
Let’s look at a few areas of following/loving God that deal with your mind.
Part of loving God with our minds means taking control of our thoughts and directing them toward things that are good and beneficial and which honor God.
Romans 12:2 – “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Philippians 4:8 – “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
It can be incredibly easy to let our thoughts take control of us. We’ve probably all had times when our thoughts take the reins and we just dwell on things that are angry or sad or anxious or depressive or prideful or cruel. Thoughts can be intrusive. However, we are able to take those thoughts captive. Even if we can’t control the immediate thought that jumps out in certain situations, we can choose to control what we think about after the fact, on any given day, and how we respond to the thoughts that we have.
Loving God with our mind means thinking about things that glorify Him and allowing Him to mold and change and transform our mind and thoughts.
Secondly, we can love God with our minds by obtaining knowledge.
The truth is that Christianity is not at odds with Science or History or Anthropology or Math or Philosophy or Reason or anything else. Those things are all given by God and can be used to worship Him.
2 Corinthians 10:5 – “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,”
Luke 21:15 – “for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.”
Both of these verses speak of wisdom as coming from God and being a positive thing. They speak to logic and reason and show how both actually help to prove God. God is not afraid of people learning things and gaining knowledge. He is big enough to handle questions, and since He is real, all knowledge ultimately points to Him.
Acts 17:22-23; 27-28 – “So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. … that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for
“‘In him we live and move and have our being’;
as even some of your own poets have said,
“‘For we are indeed his offspring.’”
Paul was learned and knowledgeable, not just in Christianity or Judaism, but in Greek society and poetry and other religions, and many other things as well. He used this knowledge and learning to help proclaim the truth of Christ to a lost and searching world.
Finally:
Proverbs 3:13-15 – “Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her.”
Proverbs 9:10 – “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.”
God views knowledge and wisdom as incredibly valuable things, but at the end of the day. He is the source of all knowledge and wisdom, that which is known to humanity and unknown. We love God by seeking to know Him, to have thoughts that reflect Him, to defend Him “though He doesn’t need defense” with facts, but also, our obedience to Him and love of Him is a starting point for knowledge and understanding. Apart from Him we will never have access to all wisdom, but in His love we receive Truth.
Love God with all your mind.
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